Skip to main content

Full text of "Bulletin"

See other formats 


XXX 
A ‘ 
\e is SY 
\ 
\\ \) 

\ 


UIA 
WN 
NAR 

. ANY AN \ 
\\ \ AA 


NY 


\\\ 


_ CC \\ 
_ \ 


LEA ee 
EEE 


VLG Ve 
i bie 


i 
iy, 


See he 
f 


y 


jie 
mit i vs “Le ny 
v aie 


BUREAU 


OF AMERICAN 


ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN 


172 


PLATE 


1 


ich of Angoon, 1950. 


“ 


Be 


The West 


SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 
BULLETIN 172 


THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY: 
A PROBLEM IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN 
ARCHEOLOGICAL, ETHNOLOGICAL, AND 
HISTORICAL METHODS 


By 
FREDERICA DE LAGUNA 


UNITED STATES 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
WASHINGTON : 1960 


For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office 
Washington 25, D.C. - Price $2 (cloth) 


LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 


SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 
Bureau oF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY, 
Washington, D. C., March 31, 1988. 
Str: I have the honor to transmit |herewith a manuscript entitled 
“The Story of a Tlingit Community: A Problem in the Relationship 
between Archeological, Ethnological, and Historical Methods,” by 
Frederica de Laguna, and to recommend that it be published as a 
bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology. 
Very respectfully yours, 


FRANK H. H. Roperts, Director. 


Dr. LEONARD CARMICHAEL, 
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution. 


rm 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

PerOraces Saat peyote gee eh So a ee es Sat atc ett ee te IX 
The relationship between Tlingit archeology and ethnology________-_- 1 
Introductionmo therproblem oe Luo See a ae re it 
IBS AST CHORE MUSES Spat ea os a ae et th cam a he Pal Spel el aa 4 
Conduct of theviteld wor kag 25.8 a ge 8 
Character ofstherethnolopicalidatacwyes shemale ses lle ee eee 15 
Tlingit concepts of history and geography _-___________-.---_----_- 16 
AM POON PHENO AIR CeLTILOIY 922 ocean eho ei ee ones 23 
PRE PANE OORMCOD le ies spree es oh eee ha Se i 23 
JeXiaVeRO| Op 0 12h aXe eee ewe ee ee mR ennee ey ee eee kee Senne Sees 28 
Archeolopicalsives in weneral 04. uit ek es th hs a ta 30 
Admiralty Island north of Kootznahoo Inlet_______________-_-_--_- 35 
AR OU ste Oy 27s) ean aE aS my le naan le etre enter ee hee re eS Soe 35 
TROOCZIAN OO! ECR 2 ses otters eh tg ety Perce sl ae ee 36 

ISG Ot7MAN Go males Lea sk ee Sieh re hes scene ie ccN  Ms NS RB 36 
OUTS VE COT pe ee re ee el Pt PS EI re SS Rn ed 38 

RS Gil Lape Gee Tope ANG be TE Go apc acne ap cas a 39 
Pillsbury Point and Daxatkanada Island__________________-_- 39 

SS CORIO MASS Oem cary Ll ah Ips yal A 40 

IMIG Gee INTs 8 yeh ee Se eed hea a mene in nay ari a 41 
1SCNCISH NED BE EO a ARI SCAR ee ani rotten eee ee nn a 43 
18431] 05/7941 (0) (0) oa ee me pee ence ne gepee awiey RUN © AONE Cee wd Heewteee aw espe 44 

(CH iveya eye) MM 270) fa) pom anes tune meer ne Nien eee nC ne oe Seep eS yey Y 44 

PSUR WANE OUN G22 yy ade ly ees Sic Mh 5 coal Ne ate a 45 

JRE Oa Heh BYe fee SRNR MN ei aed Ue es ee eerie en ems ale yam eee ate 46 
CCRT ODEN os ale aS oh eh chic Ts Lee at wo 46 
SEAT 6 CO CAIRN at ata ae USUAL hi Maa NN OA I a Hh MN 47 
Chatham Strait between Angoon and Killisnoo__-___-_____-____---- 48 
TESTU UTES TOGO) oe AL I NS Sa POP Hs Pye et pe ron oe  SSeeIRY l ete PYEO 49 
SERIO CUIESS EY eit A rate ll OR a SL em a aha i a 51 
ETO GUDTS Sau OT ba a si eae asec a ites Sf eee Se Rs 53 
(OlovEN UES, IBY ag St Soh ARIES. deeb ed Oe eae oe en ott I eee aE oS SP een Taree 53 
AWAIT CE WS GE Tes cay ee Aa URS, LE SRT VN cyl ncaa ag a al 55 
Cie Cy AIG aie t  he 58 
NVI OI 1G OWN Cre ere yee ey ge fy) a ee i, ayap be ei 58 
Southend? of AdminalGyelstane jy co ee ill ee Sl a A 59 
ATISY CC My Liptay DAA rca k et Reve Na se Kan hs HA Sop ae the 59 
Heringsand. Chapimw aye eff by dS ic epee ge a 59 
BBG SNe eh TB OTe 2s gree le AB i a a 59 

NEE PU StS hy he ears ar des ge hy ep A la cay pci a ef 60 
Whichavorelslam So <2 Rie a gc ee a ile up ely 60 
FM gerS| aR ee hes) Oa BY a mM RAL RS 1 LAN 1d Ss ot OT A Oe Pep 60 
BREMA Kee MEA 6 bes. op reef Mies ys I ad oy cl ed ie Pe hh eh gL 60 

FES Fis re a aga) Sy ny a a he eR ee ea wi 61 
IPEMINB Lay OMG aye ey LL a Lan, UE i pat abe Lk 63 


SMITHSONIAL 


INSTITUTION. FEBL 6 4960 


IV CONTENTS 


Angoon tribal territory —Continued 
Chichagof Island—Continued 
Point ayes 220 e eo eke essa nas cee nee eee eee 
Point Crayeneea] ese see eee eos a= ea eee ae a 
PSE} Co) 21g 2: Se ap PR 0c DROS Ores ae a pried yee pea a a 
Peni Straits. 22222 325 eh a 5 Oi on Se eee 


Hanus’ Baye eee ee ee eee 
Baranor’ Island’ south of Pen! Strait’*'22 se *-* So 20228 See cee 
Sarmmary s0f gi terbonies= = 90 = sea aan ene ao ee 
Petrogly pus snd pictomrapuee 22-222 o. seen een ee 

Pictographs at Magpie Point near Angoon____--.------------- 

Pictographs south of Whitewater Bay.__-..------------------ 

Petroglyphs at sitkoh Bay! S0Seeeo ee. sees eee enone 

Summarys 2 oo 22 eee oe ee es ee ee eee 

Archeological sites at Daxatkanada Island and Pillsbury Point___-___-_- 
Daxatkanadarislands=22tse sess ees 2222 ote ee ee eee ee 
he shells. 222: er Dod sa ee eee ee eee eee eee 

[HE SAC Ae 2S a8 Se ae ee oe re a ee ea eee 

Other test pits = 222 22.22 ee ah ae at eee ee eee ee 

Contentsiof the deposits===22* 22 22222 Uses heat Sa e ee 

Wood-and:seeds-—2 2) 2 kee ete eae eee ee eee 


Archeological specimens from the Angoon area_----------------------- 
Introduction. 22 ei 2s see te oe eee ee eee eee 


Maulsvandpestless += = sea <see esas ater wes 12Re eee eee 
Hammerstones, strike-a-lights, firestones___.__._-------------- 
Wartclubi: 22 = 2* &er cee een ee eee See ee eee 
Vessels and ipainte 2) eee ene ene eee ee 
Stone dishes “and ‘pottery *(@) 2422-22-22 2=e=2e ee eee ee ee 


Abradinp toGise2 222122 sess eke eee eee eee ee eee 
Stonesaws--- 88 bau eee eae ead ec ee ee eee 


Rubbingitoolssi<t2eseus- see ee eee ee eee ete 
Wnfinished'(7) oval stone*tqols) 5224224 -4-s-. see eee eee 
inives and seraperse 22 = 6a - See nen eee = a eee ae 
Wooden handles:==2242 == #-="s=2ss=+s> soe ede eee aoe 
Slate blades. dae 39 es = 28s ohn ees econ Sea ee see ea wee ea 
Shellamplementss229es224*"=22¥s 5-25-5242 55 see eee eee 
Boulder*chips. £222 Ss s2a4 see es aes. eens Se ae ee 
Plakes and\coress2. 222222820 See shoes eee eee eee sec ee eee 
Searmammalhuntingsweaponss=-——4—=—2 ses == == === a= 
Toggle arpoen Neauss es -)n22c=ee ==. eee—= cee a= aan ee 
Barbed hamoon neds]. =o sae hoe eae ele ere ee ee 


CONTENTS 


Archeological specimens from the Angoon area—Continued 


hand animal) hunting weapons: 5 --. 2-2-2 3 osese sss eens 
Barbed points=i2 2. 3s ees aes 8a et ey hehe 
Wnubarbedsarrowheads. 2.222525. Melle ash a pees hat 
Bone spearsior daggers s2c4 422 estat) eds gee lod_s 
ISTO CE. 2 1 el ee ees Joa ei a oe 
Double-poimted, bone pins._--_ 82 _---_- = eee 
Bird-bonewmolnta i. sce tS oe ee 
Barbs forgattshookse 2 Se025 2 JL 3 i Ry wen yt De 
Miscellaneous) bone points... -..-..2.--- ebecedsese4_2e 
BONG ubOO sees cele ee ee ee apenas 


Worked bones] 42.2255. 2aenmer eh Ae sl bee Nt ened lb b 
Ornaments. 22.2 5-el eee Eo Cane HE el ee eal 


Nose; pin (Qe 2s rat wos eet oil fet Bews UP ahh ew oes 
Stormers ics aoe eee eS ge ae eg 
PATI LOSE Wa tes aera eine Se ee ee eS 
JN TAU TU VE\ eS A I Ge OM NaN La AF) AME, CYTE ae Ae 3 


RubpMme stone eee ee pl el ln ae 
Drinking tube (2) en See a fat eye tS Boy 


STAGES OOUG 2 oa ee ap ee oe 
@onclu signs 8 oe a lee ee ee ee a ee mp Date 
BISEOFY.Ol AN 2OONe 2 ee oe ee le ok een PD she 
MONG R OCU CLIO Me eae ee eee ae oleae ya te ep RRR EL pe Sy 
PSM eR OO Gee e te teh bese a eae ar ee eek oe Ee 
CORER LOGS OL CLERON ey one ese Se ges aE 

ADM AVES. AH Kooy o Eines a me pia a a la a ee eM 6") 2 Ue cere 
ine HoundinesOL AiG QO. soos. o ek Sek eeeeeek eee eee 
AVC TSTO Tete tes se ai nes eae ee ee ae Piel 

AVIS TSI O Wily 2 re Nee ee rn ae seg ade os a natty el 
METSION Os ee ee we oe ee ee ne tpe i apg leebd 
Split between the Ganaxadi and the Decitan______________- 
Versione ieee 3 oe nS ae ee ea gepu at Re 


IMersIODI 2240 2 ase MB ee 
Onrivinton then aqh awedimenmr we hoe wk Be 
Migration of the Daqvawedie 262 oo 2. kd 
Story, of the Hood Bay shaman. 6) 2222 see ek oes 
NYCSSGSTUOY ONT LS ae ee I ree ee eR 


VI CONTENTS 


History of Angoon—Continued PAGE 

Opigin. of sthe TeqYedice... 2.2.25 3650. ERE Be ae 143 

Story about TDroubleiat Todds. i cceec eee es eee 145 

Other stories:about -Angoon sibs: ...=-. =... See eee Seat. 146 
Fights between the Decitan and ’Anxakhitan and the Sitka 

Wiksadizc i. cecodeet eee ac Stee eee ee ee ee 149 

Version olin cee de ee ced 2 ee ee 149 

Wersion 2222 eset coke ek eee ek et =a eee See 149 

Story,of Pillsbury, Boint--== =. -.=-2--2¢e. 28 see ee 150 

Siege of .Daxatkanada.- ....<-2--.2=- 25 eos eee 150 

Wersion dis eh este ele eee keene =e eee eee eee 150 

Mersloni 2 Leck Ane oe Coe ees =k ee eee 151 

Mersion: 3222 4.ses86<2- cee eee. 6 RO ea iee 151 

Sequel to Version 3, Trouble at Wrangell_____.____._.--_---_- 152 

Peace between the Wrangell and Angoon people__-_____-_------ 154 

Defeat of the Sitka Kagwantan at Wrangell_________________- 155 

Massacre of the Wrangell Peace Party at Sitka__._.__._________-_ 155 

Attack on the Angoon Wuckitan by the Sitka Kagwantan__-____ 157 

Murder of the Wuckitan by the Kagwantan at Sitka__________-_ 157 

Recent, history. of: Angoon....2--8225225622--022- 3225. 25 oo ee ee 158 

Introductions=2-225-222 222 ceecee ote ese ee ee ee ee 158 

Destructionjof. Angoon, 1882.2... 222 2 eke 2c. 22 cece ee eso eee 158 

Historical backgrounds: .— 225 522523 oe Lee ee 159 

Ihetteriof Morris: .+2..ccetecelseocce baeese es See ee 163 

Report of Commander,.Merriman.. 2 22224022522) Some 164 

Letter, of Mrs. Willard: + ..-.2. 2... 2) er ee 167 

ATOM, WVETSIONS (2.2 whe Le See Es ae ae ene 168 

Wersion Went ae. Pe hee ew eee ache me verre 168 

WiGrSIOM Dao tal la eh ls. ee es go Oe 169 

Wersion 322 ci eee Ue eek ee 171 

Historic.sketches;ofAngoon2 i 22. bcc ceeoee ee ces ee ee 172 

(ATI TOOMUIAT POA ees tn ee acl tS 2, cl ee 172 

Angoon nel Sones. ess Bape SE ee lel ee 173 

Angoon,inw8 7/9) oa i a Re Dey ee ee 174 

Kallisnoo Ans SO0m ee ee eae Lee Lee eS oe ee 174 

Asicoon, houses 2222 ce eececesoeeee cece su eee a ae ee 176 

AMCIeRt HOUSES 2 a Sirs ee ee Oe le eis ee i 178 

Decitamibouses:=< eo ataalucs! sues ees se eee 180 

sAnxalchiten (Houses-. 6-2 ceb We eae kee eal ee 185 

Wouckitan hotises...2 eRe fae Jorn Fe a ee aE ee pee 186 

Neq@edi shousess 22226 kay Su 2 a Ee er ok eee 187 

Daqhawedi Jouseses =. bss chee oes os eee ee eee 189 

Summarys oo. 2 Oe ee yet ess led Bee ee 192 

PAN COON AGO AG 22s ee Ss a ep ane oF cs 5 192 

(ONCIUISIONS Hs 2 6 ep he sear a oth on ree ere ke 200 

Bibliography 246 eo lee las oe eee 207 

AD pen GiX 2228522 3455 ee Soe sce as esses SO ee 210 

Hizplanation.ofplates...2 2024.22 5sbassee5 ee ee ee eee 231 


ae 


CONAN PRWHe 


rODOMDNAARWNe 


CONTENTS 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PLATES 
(All plates except frontispiece follow page 234) 


. The West Beach of Angoon, 1950. (Frontispiece.) 
. Angoon houses, 1950 and 1890. 


Daxatkanada Island and causeway. 
Artifacts and posthole. 


. Splitting adzes, hammers, etc. 


Miscellaneous stone specimens. 


. Stone rubbing tools and saws. 


Bone weapons. 


. Bone and shell implements. 
. Ornaments and miscellaneous specimens, 
. Petroglyphs, Sitkoh Bay. 


TEXT FIGURES 


. The home of the Angoon people and adjoining territories__________- 


ieaviciniGy Oh ANPOON eae Sees oe oe ee eel ee a ee 


eM LUcin yO 1alicn ayes Les eeel avi hee Soni Ye Lh ee hee ee a 
a piteror Neltushkin. Whitewater Bay.2 2-222 2-s2ul lus tee Sele 
MSI CORabEDASKe hua yee ees eee ea 
/ Site near Chatham Cannery, Sitkoh Bay__..-....._.....-.-._.._- 
PLC LOOTA DNS are aaa ene ae eae ee aa a eee halal nae 
MECILORIY Diss OLUKON DAYs ao8 one ee eee Se Ae Es Oe ee 
peDaxackanacda Welland Skee fils Sei ia eek Sule Sere ee La ae 
. Bottom of midden on shelf, Daxatkanada Island____._.-.-------_--- 
. Cross section of midden on shelf, Daxatkanada Island____..----_-_- 
. Bottom of midden on saddle, Daxatkanada Island___.___-_.--_-_--- 
. Cross section of midden on saddle, Daxatkanada Island__._______--- 
asiteo Whale’s Head Nort, Pillsbury Point .22. 2-2-2 fobs 2 oes 
. Incised stone tablets from Daxatkanada Island_________-_-_------- 
SBOLCG Oly GROUSE) ORG Cy SUEALG = sen tes wes ee a Se oh Ah eee Pe 
SiS KEL CH IMAP OMAN OOM He see CMe sh 2h Ley eee Ma ic 8 ate a 
. Paintings on Killer Whale Houses, Angoon_________._------------- 


VII 


A rg oU a Jiwe 


ss \ Ay) ppl 


| Buta | 
= ie) » are er j 
‘ nes, tu Pye ine Ay rt) naa bos tg nie ie ap 
4 4 @ yi 7 
ag dethiyY) Taide pea ak Oly ~gutt alewoita coer | 


Salts yap eahierh oy cr gpa ld ta 4 aid 
Be Fa, depen hey aaa na Ao Bry Monbitlt Dnsihing’) me ia sat aie 
oi as RNY Woe hes ca cee bas oe <ahes a ha koetpcar i 
SRS OP la etr as. 12 Ok is aude Wout wag at waa aut it 
ee a Pore She Be we Us ae 

ie  opah shy ook ch adn! barca aa hvesstisal eae Theva tht ‘eee 
im); Ba ue CE kat abated Strate oo veh hto ta. pOltsing 
er ee Te, eta aieasiteael (oliian ba) cabbies to 
TA cro ie tek yet ha E ihiesatiaet? sib Rat Wn elie ter anal 
Uh ae BD. § bo ye pone « LOT CD et Bit aeabedW Mey 
RM) Mode ey ate fue . chatet abun ating aort elated eire le Beaute 
BB ALE ee ee 
RT aa aie hin) pian at ale ale ee aM btn AE Ta 
Oe OH Wnty ih A fe OAL: Ait sche) bic a a0 bes 


Das 
. ‘ 
' ; 
, re 
i if 
’ uy 
A i 
i ah 
Pers Ue 
, . i ; 
ie ; i ae 
tet 
ae { : i 
: f j 
ime ay he a ( a? i 
aA | o vt} f i 
i i 4 
i) A . Ht 
7 a ee) Us 
PANY hen et iy aoa 
Hop We é via ge 
iit a) 
(ores 1 
rile, i ( 
rT me 4 Pi 
g U it) 
fg igh F Mien 
is 
, vi 
eae i 
: } ¥ 
: f 
Ll 
i 


PREFACE 


The basic data which form the concern of this study were gathered 
in the summers of 1949 and 1950 on two exploratory expeditions to 
Alaska supported by a post-doctoral fellowship from the Viking Fund 
(now the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research), 
and by two grants-in-aid from the Arctic Institute of North America 
from funds supplied by the Office of Naval Research. 

The objective of the first season was to discover some area within 
the territory of the northern Tlingit where an integrated program of 
archeological, ethnological, and acculturation studies could best be 
undertaken. This meant selecting some tribal group that possessed 
at least one native or predominently native community sufficiently 
integrated to exhibit a coherent social life, and sufficiently old-fashioned 
to have retained some institutions derived from the aboriginal culture 
and to provide informants for the remembered or traditional past. 
In addition there should be, within the territory of the tribe, archeolog- 
ical sites which were recognized as those inhabited by their ancestors 
and which were suitable for excavation. We also hoped to find others 
of greater antiquity that might shed light on the more remote past. 

During the summer of 1949 I was assisted in the field by Edward 
Malin, a graduate of the University of Colorado, and by William 
Irving, then an undergraduate at the University of Alaska. We 
visited the tribal territories of the Yakutat (June 8—July 13), Chilkat— 
Chilkoot (July 17-Aug. 4), and Kootznahoo or Angoon people 
(Aug. 12-29). Asa result of this survey, the Yakutat and Angoon 
areas were judged to be particularly suitable for further work. Arche- 
ological investigations in the Chilkat area were disappointing, for while 
the Chilkat village of Klukwan was still an ethnological treasure 
house, the inhabitants were so suspicious and hostile that work with 
them would have been difficult or unproductive. Presumably other 
areas, especially those of the Hoonah and Sitka tribes, might also 
have been promising, but we did not have time to explore them. The 
results of this survey have been embodied in two mimeographed 
reports, ‘An Anthropological Survey of the Northern Tlingit, 1949,” 
and “An Archeological Survey in Northern Tlingit Territory, 
1949,” which were distributed to the institutions supporting the work 
and to interested individuals. 

Ix 


x PREFACE 


The second season (June 14—-Sept. 14, 1950) was spent at Angoon 
in order to see what could be learned here through a coordinated 
program of ethnological and archeological work. The archeological 
research was carried out chiefly by Francis A. Riddell and Lloyd R. 
Collins, then graduate students in anthropology at the Universities of 
California and Oregon, respectively, while the ethnological investiga- 
tions were undertaken by Dr. Catharine McClellan and the author, 
who also, especially during the last weeks of the summer, participated 
in the excavations. The latter were concentrated at one rather small 
site, but explorations were made of other sites in the vicinity of An- 
goon, supplementing the survey of the previous summer. The results 
of the archeological work have been prepared in the form of a mimeo- 
graphed report ‘‘Archeological Explorations in the Angoon Area, 
Southeastern Alaska, 1950: Part I, Sites; Part II, Specimens.”’ The 
ethnological data, although dealing with all aspects of Tlingit culture, 
in both the present and the recent past, are not complete enough for 
a comprehensive monograph. Some of the general conclusions con- 
cerning social organization have been summarized in an article pub- 
lished in the Southwestern Journal of Anthropology (de Laguna, 
1952). The present monograph contains not only all the data in the 
mimeographed reports pertaining to Angoon, but additional material 
from our field notes. It may be considered, therefore, as a compre- 
hensive statement of all that we learned about the archeology of the 
Angoon area and of that part of the ethnographic information that 
bearsuponthearcheology. How these two types ofdataarerelatedisone 
of the problems with which this monograph is particularly concerned. 
A preliminary statement has already been published under the title 
of ‘Some Problems in the Relationship between Tlingit Archeology 
and Ethnology,’ Asia and North America: Transpacific Contacts, 
assembled by Marian W. Smith, Memoir 9, Society for American 
Archaeology, 1953. 

To those institutions that supported and sponsored this research, 
to the many individuals who gave generous assistance, and to my 
companions in the field, I wish to express my thanks. 

FREDERICA DE LAaGuna, 
Bryn Mawr College, 
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. 


THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY: A PROB- 
LEM IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ARCHE- 
OLOGICAL, ETHNOLOGICAL, AND HISTORICAL 
METHODS 


By Freperica DE LaGuNa 


THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TLINGIT ARCHEOLOGY 
AND ETHNOLOGY 


INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM 


There are a number of ways in which archeology may relate to 
ethnology, but in any given area it may not be possible to trace such 
connections fully. Ideally, of course, the archeology of a people 
should enable the anthropologist to trace the record of the culture 
back into stages temporally prior to those which can be explored 
through ethnological techniques or historical records. Admittedly 
the archeological data, even under conditions of maximum preserva- 
tion and most skillful excavation, will never give the complete outline 
of a culture. At best the picture would be equivalent to that which 
the ethnologist might see if he visited a village from which the in- 
habitants had precipitately fled, abandoning all their possessions. 
But such a complete inventory of material items, in associations 
reflecting technological processes, economic activities, social organiza- 
tion, and other nonmaterial aspects of life, is something to which the 
archeologist may aspire in vain. HWven if he should discover such 
another Pompei, his ability to understand what he had found would 
depend upon the degree to which he has ethnological insights into the 
total culture of which the material remains are the concrete expres- 
sions. The more remote the archeological horizon from the related 
living culture or cultures, the more limited these insights will be. 
This limitation is not simply a product of time and space, for the rate 
of culture change is not necessarily uniform from decade to decade 
or from mile to mile, but we may expect to encounter periods or 
stretches of cultural uniformity and lag, punctuated by striking 
changes as we cross critical temporal or areal boundaries. Because 
exchanges between neighboring peoples tend to make the cultures 

al 


24 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


within an area similar to each other and in a sense derivatives of the 
past of any one of them, the archeologist may discover in other 
archeological or modern cultures of the region where he works clues 
that shed light on his own particular finds. But even with the aid of 
such comparative materials, cautiously or daringly applied, he is 
bound to encounter that which remains inexplicable. 

The ethnologist, for his part, never works among a people who are 
completely unaffected by contact with the civilization of which he is 
the representative, even though he himself be the first agent of 
contact. Certainly in mid-20th-century North America, no Indian 
can be found whose way of life has not been profoundly altered by 
European and American influences. Although his interests may lie 
primarily in the contemporary scene, the ethnologist cannot escape 
the duty of trying to understand what came just before. We will 
suppose, however, that his chosen task is to discover as much as possi- 
ble of the vanished or vanishing tribal patterns. He now faces 
difficulties comparable but opposite to those of the archeologist. 
For the ethnologist who elicits by every patient and skillful method 
at his command only a verbal account of how “our people lived in 
grandfather’s time,” fails to grasp clearly just those aspects of the 
culture which may best be understood in their material embodiments. 

The archeologist digging in a site known from historic records to 
have been occupied a century ago, and the ethnologist who listens to 
descriptions of how ‘‘our people lived at that place in grandfather’s 
time’ are dealing with the same culture, and their different approaches 
should not simply result in pictures that complement one another 
by supplying what the other lacks, but should rather overlap perfectly 
at some points, as would an aerial photograph and a surveyed map 
of the same region made to the same scale. Furthermore, the museum 
collections obtained at the village a century ago and the contemporary 
records of missionaries, explorers, or traders should ideally check in 
the same fashion. To what extent, however, can these four pictures 
taken from these four different perspectives be recognized as pro- 
jections of the same reality? 

Some reflection will show that we can expect considerable deviation 
from an ideal concurrence. In the first place, the archeologist’s 
collections will tend to represent the ‘‘junk’’ of everyday life, since he 
finds chiefly what people have lost or thrown away, whereas the 
museum’s ethnological collection will more likely contain a greater 
proportion of handsome ‘‘exhibits.”” The extent to which one or the 
other collection may include items pertaining to the prestige economy, 
ceremonialism, or supernatural rites will reflect, on the one hand, the 
natives’ willingness to part with such items to the collector, and on 
the other, the natives’ practice of abandoning such things in deserted 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 3 


houses or dumps, or burying them in graves or in special repositories, 
etc., where the lucky archeologist may find them. The museum 
collection will surpass the best archeological finds in completeness of 
perishable items, but it will contain, of necessity, only that which is 
transportable, and will lack both the large or the otherwise immovable 
objects which the archeologist may study on the spot. The arche- 
ological material, as it is uncovered, will occur in associations the 
meanings of which may be discoverable. These relationships are 
apt to be lost by transfer of objects to the museum, although they 
may be recaptured for both archeological and ethnological collections 
in the form of special exhibits, such as reconstructed grave finds, 
house interiors, or models of village scenes, for example. The older 
ethnological collections, however, are especially likely to contain 
isolated objects, identified only by brief notes on use and provenience, 
but otherwise torn from the contexts that would make them fully 
intelligible. It goes without saying that both archeological and 
ethnological collections of material objects and their accompanying 
data will reflect the insights and interests of the collectors as individuals 
and as representatives of the anthropology of their day. 

The same sort of comparison can be made between the written 
accounts of early visitors and the monograph of the ethnologist who 
records the oral reports of a vanished way of life. Even though the 
former documents may exhibit no obvious distortions due to their 
authors’ professions as missionaries or traders, we usually cannot 
hope to find in them as complete or as integrated a picture as the 
ethnologist can draw, nor as conscious an awareness of the inevitable 
gaps, but they will certainly contain that which only the eyewitness 
or the participant could hope to capture. Furthermore, bias is not 
confined to the clerical or commercial layman alone, though where 
present it is more easily discovered and discounted than bias in the 
work of the ethnologist. The latter, in our hypothetical case, is 
primarily dependent upon what he is told by the natives. Obviously, 
if the aboriginal culture has completely vanished, so too will have 
disappeared the memory of it, and there will be no traditions or 
descriptions of the past except in written records. Insofar as 
interest in “‘grandfather’s day” is still present and people can still 
talk about that period, something of the past has actually survived 
and is alive in the contemporary culture. The ideas and attitudes 
about the past are all interwoven with concepts and attitudes about 
the present and the future, and therefore color the living natives’ 
statements, behavior, and expectations. So while the ethnologist 
must depend chiefly upon what he is told, he also can and must 
“read between the lines,” alert to the significance of what is not 
said, to the attitudes and values revealed or obscured by tone of 


4 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


voice and manner, and he must also be watchful of contemporary 
overt behavior that illustrates or contradicts what he has been told. 
The ethnologist’s bias arises not only because the natives’ accounts 
of the past are limited to what has survived in oral traditions because 
it is memorable, or because their statements may also be consciously 
or unconsciously screened to present the aboriginal culture in a 
favorable light, but also because the ethnologist, by virtue of his 
calling, is apt to be particularly sympathetic to the natives’ point of 
view. It is not often that we encounter this form of bias in the 
proselytizing missionary or exploiting trader. 

Lastly, both the ethnologist and the archeologist share the particular 
preoccupations and interests of their scientific disciplines to which we, 
their colleagues and contemporaries, are also blinded. These may 
produce either misleading divergences or concurrences in findings 
and interpretations, depending upon the relationship between the 
archeological and ethnological viewpoints involved. It is safe to 
say that in any case future generations of anthropologists will want 
to rewrite their chapters of culture history in ways that we cannot 
now foresee. 

In the present instance, archeologist and ethnologist are one and 
the same person, or at least we have one author responsible for the 
selection and interpretation of the data, even though some of these 
have been gathered by previous writers or visitors and by her 
associates in the field. The reader is therefore warned that in the 
following discussion there may appear an unjustified concordance 
between the archeological and ethnological pictures. On the other 
hand, while the disagreements or inconsistencies may be due to 
ignorance or confusion on the part of the author, they may also 
reflect those legitimate but baffling discrepancies in available data 
which pose the very problems explored in this monograph. 


BASIC PREMISES 


That the assumptions of the author be made as explicit as possible, 
it may be well to state the purpose for which the fieldwork was under- 
taken, especially since it was not intended to explore the relationship 
between the archeological and ethnological data that might be 
gathered in two summers among the northern Tlingit. Such a rela- 
tionship was taken for granted, and it was only when the material 
was reviewed and organized that the specific agreements and disagree- 
ments became apparent. The theoretical problem posed by such 
concordances and discrepancies was, finally, one that was raised by 
Dr. Marian W. Smith in the summer of 1951 during discussions with 
the author. Had this problem been the original and principal objective 
of the fieldwork, the research would naturally have been oriented in a 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 5 


somewhat different way, and the ethnographic inquiries, for example, 
would probably have been directed far more exclusively toward 
those aspects of the culture with which the archeology was also con- 
cerned. This is not to imply, however, that the resultant data would 
have given more insight into the relationships between archeology 
and ethnology, for too limited a preoccupation with this problem 
might have led to a failure to perceive some of the pertinent ethno- 
graphic clues or perspectives which can be obtained only through 
concern with the culture as a totality. The anthropologist should be 
aware of this problem as only one among many, neither more nor 
less important than others. 

The fieldwork of the two seasons was conceived and carried out as 
preliminary and necessary steps of a larger and more ambitious 
project, planned to require several years of research and the col- 
laboration of several scholars. The ultimate aim was to trace the 
development of Tlingit culture from the earliest period represented 
by discoverable remains down to the present time, not simply to 
present a descriptive history of Tlingit culture but to explore it as a 
case study in cultural dynamics. This would involve consideration 
of ancient cultural diffusion, continuities of traits and attitudes, 
internal readjustments and shifts in emphasis within the culture, the 
growth of those specialized patterns which give Tlingit culture its 
distinctive individuality, and the breakdown of these under white 
contact with resulting consequences to Tlingit personality. 

I had already suggested that from the archeological point of view 
there was probably a long period of cultural exchanges between the 
southwestern Alaskan Eskimo and the Northwest Coast Indians, 
some antedating the formation of the specialized and distinctive 
culture of southeastern Alaska (de Laguna, 1947, pp. 12ff.). About 
a millennium ago (?) these contacts became intensified, bringing to the 
Indians strong influences from the Asiatic side of the North Pacific. 
These influences were among the factors stimulating the growth of 
Northwest Coast culture. The Tlingit, their ancestors or their prede- 
cessors, would have been not only intermediaries in this give and 
take, but also participants in the development of Northwest Coast 
culture, the early centers of which probably lay farther to the south. 
If this view is correct, we should find three stages of development in 
Tlingit archeology. The first would be contemporary with and 
exhibit relationships to the early prehistoric cultures not only in the 
Coast Salish area of British Columbia but also in the Aleut-Pacific 
Eskimo area of southwestern Alaska. Then would come an inter- 
mediate stage when northern and Asiatic influences were being 
received; and finally we should recognize a later prehistoric stage 
when these diffused traits were being reshaped to fit the emerging 


6 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


patterns of Northwest Coast culture and the Northwest Coast was 
itself serving as a center for cultural diffusion. 

This thesis needs to be tested by archeological work. Northern 
Tlingit territory is critical because it is intermediary to this assumed 
cultural exchange and because it is archeologically almost unexplored. 

From an ethnological point of view the northern Tlingit are of 
interest because they represent the northern marginal area of North- 
west Coast culture. Kroeber (1939, pp. 28ff.) has suggested that this 
very distinctive culture first began to develop its characteristic forms 
in the Coast Salish region about the Gulf of Georgia, that the center 
of growth shifted northward to the Kwakiutl-Bella Coola area in 
central British Columbia, and in the most recent period shifted again 
to the Haida, Tsimshian, and southern Tlingit. The northern Tlingit 
might be expected, therefore, to have retained something of the 
simpler character of early Northwest Coast culture, even though at 
the time of the Russian colonization they were expanding vigorously 
across the Gulf of Alaska and into Chugach Eskimo territory in 
Prince William Sound. 

Drucker (1955) has, however, recently suggested that Northwest 
Coast culture developed from a base which was of Eskimoid character, 
presumably akin to that described by Borden (1950, 1951, 1954) at 
the mouth of the Fraser River and which has a radiocarbon date of 
2,430+4163 years. Drucker also argues that the climax of Northwest 
Coast culture has been long and still lies within the Wakashan area, where 
the Nootka and Kwakiutl have the purest and most typically coastal 
form of that culture, since it is uncontaminated by diffusion from the 
interior, and has preserved most clearly the effects of ancient and 
profound contacts with the Aleut and Eskimo, or of its derivation 
from an ancestral Eskimo pattern. According to his view, the 
Tlingit (and to a lesser degree the Tsimshian and Haida) are not 
only peripheral to the ancient Wakashan cultural center, but are 
heavily influenced by diffusions and migrations from the Athabaskan 
interior. Indeed, all three of these northern tribes are viewed as 
relatively recent settlers on the coast, who probably interrupted 
communications between the Aleut-Eskimo and the Wakashan- 
speakers, even though they themselves, and especially the northern 
Tlingit, have recently adopted some obvious and superficial Eskimo 
traits. 

Whatever may prove to have been the ultimate origins of North- 
west Coast culture, and even if, as Birket-Smith has suggested (Birket- 
Smith and de Laguna, 1938, p. 531), the Eyak once occupied what is 
now northern Tlingit territory, there is no question but that in his- 
toric times the northern Tlingit were middlemen for the southbound 
traffic in native copper from the Copper River, and for the north- 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY a 


bound traffic in slaves and dentalia. A number of northern Tlingit 
tribes also carried on organized trade with the Tlingit- and Athabaskan- 
speaking tribes of the interior hinterland. Northern Tlingit culture 
should not only reflect marginal simplicity and the effects of these 
widespread intertribal contacts, a study of which would be of value 
in understanding the growth of Northwest Coast culture as a whole, 
but it also has its own individual character. Although a number of 
excellent monographs have been published on various details and 
aspects of Tlingit culture, we still lack an overall, integrated picture. 
An ethnographic study of this kind would help us to place northern 
Tlingit culture in its historical and regional perspectives, and it would 
also serve to reveal characteristic Tlingit patterns and configurations. 
Materials for such a study would have to be obtained not only from 
published sources but from the oral traditions of the natives them- 
selves. 

The fur trade and Russian colonization at first, and later the min- 
ing, fishing, and lumbering industries, missionary and educational 
activities, and the growth of white settlements, including military 
establishments, have attacked and are continuing to reshape and 
shatter the configurations of native culture. Tlingit communities 
today exhibit in varying degree the effects of acculturation and assimi- 
lation. It would be of interest to discover what aboriginal institu- 
tions or attitudes are still alive, what aspects of culture have broken 
down almost completely, and which ones have proved most responsive 
to change without losing their continuity with the past. A compari- 
son between a relatively old-fashioned community and a greatly 
changed one should point up problems of adjustment to the modern 
world. This aspect of the study might well involve analyses of life 
histories and personality tests. 

In all the history of growth, change, and breakdown it should be 
possible to trace certain continuities of pattern that are distinctively 
Tlingit. The ultimate objective of the whole study should be to 
discover some of the underlying causes and factors in this dynamic 
process. 

An assumption which was not explicitly stated in the original 
formulation of the problem may be presented here, since it is basic 
to an understanding of Tlingit culture history, and since it received 
validation and illustration throughout our work in the field. Stated 
in its simplest form it is that the Tlingit themselves are as much re- 
sponsible for their own culture and its history as are any of the peoples 
who have influenced them. In the past, it was they who, consciously 
or unconsciously, chose what to accept of the cultural innovations 
offered them through diffusion and what use to make of the oppor- 


460927—60——_2 


8 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


tunities thus afforded. It has been Tlingit character, interests, and 
orientations that have determined how these importations were re- 
interpreted to fit Tlingit ethos and adjusted to Tlingit culture. Even 
today, when that culture is fast losing its aboriginal coherence, we 
must not assume that the Indians are passive recipients of foreign 
teachings, or that their culture is an internally static entity to be 
molded or broken by external pressures. They are not only themselves 
aware of what is going on, but as individuals or groups are taking an 
active part in hastening, opposing, or directing the changes which 
affect their lives. Furthermore, no one characterization will fit them 
all to the same degree that it might have in the days of a more homo- 
geneous aboriginal culture, for today there are not only the old- 
fashioned persons who understand no English and whose life is still 
largely guided by the old patterns of subsistence hunting and fishing, 
by reciprocal sib and lineage obligations, and by the old values, but 
there are other persons who have broken with all of these. Among 
the latter are college graduates, veterans, teachers, ministers, civil 
servants, local town officials, leaders in the local trade unions, store- 
keepers, and commercial fishermen who own valuable boats. The 
most important developments in recent years have been the exten- 
sion to the Alaska natives of full American citizenship and the legis- 
lation abolishing certain discriminatory practices. These have been 
won largely through the Tlingit’s own efforts, especially by the or- 
ganization of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and its affiliated Sister- 
hood. Their status as citizens has received recognition through the 
election of several natives as Representatives in the Territorial Legis- 
lature. The extension of the provisions of the Indian Reorganization 
Act to Alaska has made it possible for native communities to secure 
Federal loans for commercial undertakings, public works, and educa- 
tion. Some Tlingit groups have seized these opportunities; others 
have rejected them. In the clash with vested interests, in the legal 
confusion over native territorial rights, in the conflict between some- 
times opposing policies in different branches of the Government or in 
different administrations, in the struggle against old prejudices and 
apathy within the native communities and outside, and in the uncer- 
tainties of the modern world which threaten all of us, the Tlingit 
have found both hope and disillusionment. But whatever the solu- 
tion or solutions that may be adopted, whatever the patterns of 
Alaskan life that may emerge, these will be what they are because of 
something essentially Tlingit that has played its part in their creation. 


CONDUCT OF THE FIELDWORK 


To understand the results obtained from any piece of fieldwork it 
is necessary to have some notion of how it was carried out. The 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 9 


actual conduct of any field investigations always involves the making 
of a series of choices between the various opportunities offered, and 
the seizing of one necessarily excludes others. The anthropologist, of 
course, has only a limited control over such opportunities, and some- 
times none at all. In any case he can never know whether he has 
made the fullest use of what was available. But the situation, as he 
sees it, provides the background against which we must view the 
information he has gathered. 

The situation will involve such factors as the size and composition 
of the party. Too small a party is handicapped, especially in arche- 
ological work, in doing the chores of daily living, and is limited in the 
variety of projects that can be undertaken. Too large a party, espe- 
cially on an exploratory trip, may disturb the native community by 
the sudden intrusion of many strangers, may be unable to find ac- 
commodations in the villages or means of transportation, since living 
quarters are scarce and all but the smallest and perhaps least sea- 
worthy motorboats and skiffs may be engaged in fishing. The length 
of the time available for fieldwork, the season of the year, the weather, 
the stages of the tide, etc., all impose their peculiar limitations. The 
character of the native community, which involves the various atti- 
tudes of its members and component groups toward the investigators 
and their researches and toward each other in their relationships to 
the anthropologists, the particular interests in or knowledge of their 
own culture possessed by the different informants and their ability 
to communicate, and above all, the varying extent to which other 
interests, especially fishing, absorb the people—all these are factors 
affecting what the anthropologist can do and how he proceeds. 

The attempt to combine archeological and ethnological work im- 
poses its own particular choices on the small party, for there is always 
the problem of allotting the amount of time to be spent investigating 
potential sites, excavating known ones, interviewing informants, mak- 
ing new acquaintances, writing up notes, cataloging specimens, etc. 
Often the choice is not easy—if, for example, there comes the first 
calm sunny day after days or weeks of bad weather. Should this be 
the day when the whole party photographs and maps the excavations, 
or should all or some of its members seize the opportunity of observing 
and participating in the various activities of the community that are 
now joyously undertaken outdoors? Of course, at times the choice 
is obvious: engagements previously made with the natives should not 
be changed, or the state of the tide may make it dangerous for the 
whole party to go out to a site in a small skiff. Throughout the 
season, fortuitous lucky and unlucky accidents continually modify 
the planned program for research as they offer unexpected leads or 
prevent the realization of some projected undertaking. 


10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (Bull. 172 


It is, therefore, appropriate to give a brief summary of the conduct 
of the fieldwork in and about Angoon in 1949 and 1950 before the 
results are discussed. 

Malin, Irving, and I came to Angoon on August 12, 1949, on a 
motorboat that we had chartered in Juneau for a trip of exploration 
around Admiralty Island. Through the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. 
Joseph Kahklen, the schoolteachers at Angoon, to whom we had 
introductions from the Alaska Native Service in Juneau, we were able 
to stay for about a week at the ‘‘Teacherage.”” The Kahklens, them- 
selves Tlingit, introduced us to some of the people who proved to be 
our most valuable informants then and in 1950. They also found 
interpreters for us or they themselves acted in that capacity when this 
was necessary. In addition to gathering information, I was able to 
explain the purpose of our work to some of the influential people and 
to show the letter of introduction to the local officers of the Alaska 
Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood that had been given me by Mr. 
Lester Roberts, the Grand Secretary of the organization. Because it 
was immediately evident that Angoon would be a rich field for eth- 
nological research, whereas the archeological potentialities of the area 
were unknown, and because the time at our disposal was limited, we 
concentrated during our week at Angoon on exploring the sites re- 
ported in the vicinity. 

After leaving the village on August 19, we visited Hood Bay where 
the Angoon Community Association had recently bought a salmon 
cannery with funds obtained under the Indian Reorganization Act. 
Since practically all the Angoon families had by this time moved to 
Hood Bay, the men to fish and the women to work in the cannery, 
we here met almost all of the native population, observed the cannery 
in operation, and obtained additional information. On our trip 
through Angoon territory we investigated reported sites at Basket 
Bay on Chichagof Island, and at Hood, Chaik, and Whitewater Bays 
and Eliza Harbor on Admiralty Island. The only major area claimed 
by the Angoon people that we did not visit was Peril Strait between 
Chichagof and Baranof Islands, although sites were also reported 
here. Some of the places we investigated were unrewarding arche- 
ologically: in some cases the information given by the natives seems 
to have been incorrect; in others it was so vague or misleading that 
the site could not be found, or the archeological remains were too 
scanty to warrant excavation. Some of these places can, therefore, 
be eliminated from further investigation, while others might profitably 
be revisited if more explicit information were obtained, and especially 
if a native could be secured as a guide. Of the sites investigated 
three seemed to be promising: a fort on Kootznahoo Inlet called 
Daxatkanada (excavated in 1950), a fort on Hood Bay, and a village 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 11 


on Whitewater Bay. That the archeologist is not dependent upon 
native tradition in locating sites was proved by our spotting the Hood 
Bay fort from a motorboat; only the following year did we learn 
anything about it from the natives. 

Because of its archeological and ethnological promise, Angoon was 
selected as a field for work in 1950. From June 14 to September 13, 
Dr. McClellan, Riddell, Collins, and I, with the permission of the 
Alaska Native Service, occupied two classrooms in the schoolhouse, 
literally the only quarters available. Again the Kahklens did every- 
thing possible to help us until they left on June 29 for a summer in 
the States. Since our quarters were at the extreme southern end of 
the village, we were inevitably thrown into closer contact with some 
members of the community than with others. The school building 
proved in many ways an excellent place in which to entertain friends, 
interview informants, and work on the archeological material. 

From Angoon the two men made almost daily trips by skiff and 
outboard to Daxatkanada Island, which we had decided to excavate 
first, while Dr. McClellan and I concentrated on the ethnological 
work. The two of us also visited the site from time to time, and 
after the middle of August, when most of the natives began to leave 
for the canneries, we spent most of our time with the men at the 
diggings. In addition to the excavations at Daxatkanada, we made 
a large test trench at the nearby site on Pillsbury Point and explored 
a number of old camps and former villages near Angoon. We were 
unable to reach some of the reported sites, however, since the only 
boat we could obtain was a skiff which we dared not trust in exposed 
waters or swift currents. Despite this, we were able to make two 
long and valuable excursions, the first with the Kahklens to Mitchell 
Bay at the head of Kootznahoo Inlet, and the second with other 
native friends, the Reverend and Mrs. Cyrus Peck, to an important 
site on Sitkoh Bay in Peril Strait. Although we had originally 
planned to move to Hood Bay in the latter part of the summer, in 
order to excavate the fort there and to continue ethnological investi- 
gations at the cannery settlement, we abandoned this plan because 
the excavation at Daxatkanada took longer than anticipated and no 
quarters for the party could be obtained at Hood Bay. 

The archeological work did not involve any unusual techniques. 
Exploration of sites included locating the spot on large-scale charts, 
making sketch maps and photographs, and digging test holes to 
determine the extent and character of the deposits. If these were 
stratified, measurements and often diagrammatic cross sections 
were made to record the various layers, and the occurrence of animal 
bones, shells, hearths, artifacts, etc., were, of course, noted. The 
two sites at which more extensive work was undertaken were more 


12 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (Bull. 172 


accurately mapped, the area to be excavated was laid out in grids, 
and the contours of the surface measured before digging was begun, 
and more detailed cross-sectional drawings and photographs of the 
deposits were made as these were exposed. Animal bones, samples 
of shells, of wood, and of the soil in various strata were saved for 
identification. 

Three localities explored in 1949 and 1950 had pictographs or 
petroglyphs. These were photographed and sketched, and tracings 
of some were made on tissue paper. 

The ethnological work deserves to be described in more detail, if 
only because the ethnographer often does not explain the methods 
by which he obtains his data. I took pains, both in 1949 and 1950, 
to explain to the natives that we had come to gather material for a 
serious history of Angoon that would describe how the people used 
to live and how their lives had changed; that I was a teacher from 
‘back East’? who wanted to learn and teach the truth about the 
Indians so that my students and others would learn to respect them. 
With few exceptions, most of the people were not only interested in 
our work and ready to help, but were particularly sympathetic when 
they realized that we had not come for a hasty ‘inspection trip”? but 
hoped to spend more than one season in learning about the Tlingit. 
One young man even thanked us for our efforts to record the “rich 
culture of my people before it is all gone.’”’ But, of course, some 
individuals remained suspicious and unapproachable. We tried, 
therefore, to create and retain good will by proceeding slowly and 
respecting reticences, rather than to jeopardize future success by 
trying to pry out information that was not readily given. 

On both trips all members of the party kept diaries, in which we 
described our activities, the places visited, the people met, and 
events that occurred in the communities. In addition, Dr. McClellan 
and I made special records of long interviews or conversations and 
of special events. At many of the interviews, especially at those 
which had been arranged in advance and for which fees or gifts were 
given to informants, we took running notes. The usual procedure 
was for one of us to write while the other directed the interview with 
such questions as seemed appropriate. On many occasions, however, 
it seemed best not to keep notes, except perhaps for recording native 
words, but to write an account of what was said and done as soon 
afterward as possible. We usually began this task by compiling a list 
of all the topics which had been covered, then each of us took a share 
of these to write up from memory, and each corrected and amplified 
the rough draft made by the other before the final draft was typed. 
In this way, we found it possible to record the substance and often 
many of the actual phrases used by informants in conversations lasting 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 13 


more than 4 hours. In fact, these records usually do not seem to be 
any less detailed than those made from notes taken during the inter- 
view. Of course, at many interviews, visits, or casual encounters, 
only one of us was present, but on the whole we found it advantageous 
to work together and the natives also expected it. 

The information gathered in this way covered a variety of topics, 
ranging over all major aspects of Tlingit life, contemporary and in the 
recent past. Included were data on technology and subsistence, in 
the form of verbal descriptions:of hunting and fishing methods, of what 
we observed on berrying expeditions with the women or in watching a 
seal being flensed, of recipes for cooking chitons, of models or drawings 
of fishing gear, and lastly, photographs. Data on social organization 
included a census of the-community, map of the town, list of sibs and 
their lineage houses, short genealogies, etc., as well as explanations, 
comments, or descriptions of such institutions as joking relationships, 
potlatching, marriage, feuds, and slavery. We also gathered a good 
deal of information on shamanism and other aspects of supernatural 
beliefs and practices, and recorded (in English) a number of myths 
and sib tradition. A Webster wire-recorder loaned by the Wenner- 
Gren Foundation made it possible to obtain several potlatch songs and 
a long speech in Tlingit describing the destruction of Angoon by the 
Coast Guard in 1882. Information about current affairs and com- 
munity problems and some autobiographical material was volunteered. 
We do not consider these data as exhaustive on any one topic, but 
rather as indicative of the range that can be covered, and as suggesting 
certain problems to be solved by further research. 

Naturally, the sort of information obtained varied with the age, sex, 
sib affiliation, and particular knowledge, interests, and temperament 
of the individual informants, and we were fortunate to be able to work 
with many different persons. Ishould point out, however, that about 
half of our information came from one individual who is in some ways 
atypical. He is a middle-aged man who had received a much better 
education in white schools than most Tlingit of his generation. He 
had played for a while a prominent role in community affairs, but was 
now largely withdrawn from much of the ordinary community life. 
He finds himself caught between the white man’s and the native’s 
worlds, yet not fully belonging to either. He is intellegent enough to 
analyze and compare both and to realize his own position. He had 
not only the time but the interest and insight to be a valuable inform- 
ant. Most of the information from him pertained to social institutions, 
sib traditions, recent community history, etc. He also furnished 
some data on hunting and fishing, though most of our data on material 
culture and on former sites came from others. 

In general, we can say that the Tlingit are reserved, often shy, and 


14 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


sometimes suspicious. Many at first seemed to be afraid that we, 
like other whites, would ridicule or disapprove of the old ways. Cus- 
toms which were at variance with modern Tlingit or white usages were 
sometimes uncomfortable topics of conversation. Here we met with 
various degrees of ignorance or reticence, or with attempts to justify 
the old ways by explaining how they were really like the ways of the 
whites, or even how they conformed better than white practices to 
modern standards of morality. Such explanations were often not only 
revealing of present attitudes but suggestive of ambivalences even in 
the past. There are many different attitudes toward the old and the 
new; some people lament the loss of old customs, skills, and values; 
others turn eagerly toward a brightly envisioned future. We made a 
number of real friends, and from them received a flood of confidences, 
obviously releasing long-pent tensions, and reflecting the reserve which 
is demanded in interpersonal contacts between the Tlingit themselves. 
We found that our informants did not like to be guided by questions, 
and that they were much more impatient of such interruptions than 
are most white Americans. It is apparent, too, that the Tlingit learn 
from each other, not by questioning, but by observing and waiting 
for explanations or comments to be volunteered. So our informants 
said what they wanted to say, in their own way, at their own time and 
pace. From this stems both the completeness and incompleteness of 
our records, for we obtained valuable information and insights in this 
spontaneous way that we would otherwise have missed. Yet we some- 
times regretted that it was impossible to recapture the interest of the 
informant in something previously discussed and on which we desired 
fuller explanations. A great deal of information came, therefore, not 
in the form of generalized statements, but in accounts of particular 
events that our informants had witnessed or in which they had partici- 
pated, or in the form of stories which older people had told them. 
This usually meant a wealth of detail, but it was often hard to judge 
from the specific instances what were the underlying patterns. Indi- 
viduals varied, of course, in their ability to generalize about their 
culture and in their interest in doing so. 

We were also struck by the lack of interest shown by the Tlingit 
in the customs of other tribes, even of their neighbors, although many 
of them had made long trips, for example to Seattle, where they en- 
countered people of different cultures. Even the relocation of some 
Aleut refugees on a nearby island during the war seems to have left 
little mark on the Angoon community, despite the fact that the two 
groups had ample opportunity for becoming acquainted. For in- 
stance, only one man commented on differences between Aleut and 
Tlingit customs (in this instance, methods of preserving seal entrails), 
and one other mentioned the different physical appearance of the 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 15 


Aleut. Exceptions to this general lack of interest in the foreign are 
the traditions that the Chilkat blanket was adapted from Tsimshian 
weaving, and that the Haida built excellent canoes because they had 
red cedar (one Angoon sib claims descent from a woman who married 
a Haida, and the canoe is usually mentioned in this connection), and 
lastly there is the admitted eagerness with which the Tlingit copy 
“Aleut” (Prince William Sound Eskimo) dances and Tsimshian songs. 
On the whole, however, the Tlingit live in the center of their own 
cultural world, and in this respect contrast greatly with such groups 
as the Tena (Ingalik) Athabaskans on the lower Yukon, who not only 
eagerly copied the ceremonies of their Eskimo neighbors but even 
made up a comic dance featuring ‘Outside Indians,” feather bounet 
and all, about whom they had evidently learned in school (de Laguna, 
1936, pl. 17, B-3, p. 573). This Tlingit attitude probably accounts 
for the few references made to the various white persons who formerly 
visited them. Only those who lived among the Tlingit for a long time, 
and who thus became in a sense members of the community, seem to 
have been remembered or at least thought worthy of mention. 


CHARACTER OF THE ETHNOLOGICAL DATA 


Certain limitations on the type of ethnological information ob- 
tainable have a definite bearing on the problem of relating Tlingit 
ethnology to Tlingit archeology or to written historical records. 
Thus, a good deal of knowledge about aboriginal material culture, 
technology, hunting and fishing, etc., is lost, for the old tools and 
weapons are no longer made or used, and in many cases can be seen 
only in museums. Many of the artifacts found in our excavations 
could not be identified at all, or were assigned obviously fantastic 
functions. Stone adzes, harpoon heads, beads, pendants, and labrets 
were objects which everyone recognized correctly and found the most 
interesting. The labrets, in particular, roused gales of laughter 
among the women and animated comment. The needle, however, 
has so completely replaced the awl that no one seems to have any clear 
ideas of what a bone awl was really like, so that any pointed bone, 
especially the double-pointed pins (see p. 117), would be identified 
as an awl, and thrust through the informant’s jacket to demonstrate 
how an awl was used to make a hole in sewing. Again, descriptions of 
old-style houses were often vague and stereotyped, for the modern 
framehouse replaced the aboriginal plank house when today’s old 
people were children. Yet the smokehouses still in use represent the 
whole series of types from the oldest to the most modern. 

It might be expected that the older men who had been hunters in 
their youth would be able to identify most of the animal bones and 
teeth that we found in the excavations. Yet one elderly man, who 


16 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


gave valuable information about hunting and fishing devices, was 
unable to recognize the remains of common animals, and usually 
identified even the bones and teeth of small mammals (seal, sea otter) 
as those of ‘‘a bear—oh, a little one.”’ I do not know to what extent 
this ignorance is typical: our informant may have forgotten what he 
once knew about animals. I suspect, however, that the Tlingit were 
never particularly interested in this aspect of animal anatomy. The 
conventionalizations of Northwest Coast art in which the articula- 
tions between all bones are conceptualized as ball and socket joints 
and uniformly symbolized by eye motifs may not only express a lack 
of interest in anatomical detail but may even have hindered the per- 
ception of it. Whatever the reason, this example of ignorance con- 
trasts most strongly with the knowledge displayed by every Eskimo 
I have known. An attempt to secure the native names for common 
shellfish in the area met with a surprising reaction on the part of an 
old lady whom we approached. The shells of species used for food 
or for other purposes (i. e., the large mussel formerly used as a knife, 
and the large barnacle now used as a flower vase) were readily identi- 
fied, but our informant manifested horror at the sight of such things 
as rock oyster shells and dried starfish, for handling them brings 
storms. It was perhaps all right for us to touch them, but she did not 
even want to look at them, she said, and did not know their names. 

Traditional native art is virtually dead at Angoon. Only a few 
sib heirlooms survived destruction in 1882 or are still treasured, and the 
new ceremonial paraphernalia which is being made for potlatches 
(mostly beaded robes) is in an altered style. Only a few of the older 
women still make baskets, and there are no more wood carvers or 
silversmiths. Moreover, the old paintings and carvings on the house 
fronts have been obliterated or destroyed, and even if the lineage 
chiefs felt i worth the expense to have them restored, they would 
have to search far for a competent artist. The decay of heraldic art 
involves also a loss of the detailed knowledge of its symbolic meanings. 
This may be one reason why it is now difficult to secure specific infor- 
mation about petroglyphs and pictographs, although people say that 
they could formerly be “‘read like totem poles.’” Furthermore, as this 
knowledge has become more esoteric, the antiquarians among the 
Tlingit, proud of their reputation as experts, are less willing to teach 
others what they know. 


TLINGIT CONCEPTS OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 


As will be seen, we were told a number of stories associated with 
various sites or localities, some versions being obviously more com- 
plete than others. Whereas some myths, for example those of the 
Raven cycle, may be told by anyone, most of the traditions referring 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY Te. 


to supposedly historic events and many of the myths and legends are 
associated with particular sibs. These are best known by the members 
of the sib in question, or by persons whose father or paternal grand- 
father belonged to that sib and had taught them the stories when they 
were children. Outsiders may be familiar only with the outline of the 
tale. In any case, there is a feeling that only those who belong to the 
sib should tell the story, while others who may know it usually profess 
ignorance. This is natural, since the story may be told or acted out at 
potlatches and may provide the basis for potlatch songs, sib regalia, 
and ceremonial oratory (‘‘like talking in riddles’). These various 
forms of recalling or symbolically portraying the tradition are prerog- 
atives of the particular sib, whose members sacrifice wealth at pot- 
latches not simply to validate their rights in these monopolies but to 
enhance the value of their ceremonial privileges. Again, if the story 
refers to fights or quarrels between sibs, as many of them do, it would 
be interpreted as an insult, a deliberate provocation sufficient to renew 
the old quarrel, if a member of one sib told the story or even referred 
to the incident in the presence of a member of the other sib involved. 
For this reason, such stories do not circulate freely, and there is even 
a deliberate attempt to suppress them as dangerous to the peace of 
the community.’ If thoroughly investigated, it is probable that one 
would find as many different versions of the story as there were sibs 
involved, each reflecting one side of the affair or magnifying the part 
played by one group. 

All of these are factors which serve to compartmentalize the tradi- 
tional history of a tribe into a series of sib histories that cannot be 
reconciled. These histories do not belong so much to the tribal com- 
munity, therefore, as to the sib, and the sib’s various local subdivisions 
which form parts of different tribal communities will have a common 
fund of tradition. It would be an interesting subject for research in 
any one community to study the extent and character of the contra- 
dictions and discrepancies between the histories of the various sibs and 
to explore the reasons for such lack of agreement. A more usual type 
of study has dealt with the differences between versions of the same 
story gathered in different localities. 

I believe it would be possible to show that the individual Tlingit’s 
sense of history and geography is strongly affected by the dominance 
of the sib which controls the social, political, and ceremonial aspects 
of his life. Tlingit ‘histories’ are concerned with the origin of lineages 
or sibs, the quarrels or other events that caused such family groups 


1 Dr. Viola Garfield informs me that this also affects the attitude toward some totem poles in the more 
southern Tlingit communities. A white proposal to move some old poles from an abandoned village to the 
modern community where they could be guarded from vandalism was vigorously opposed by the people, 
because the poles in question carried designs symbolizing or “‘telling the story’’ of former feuds which were 
better forgotton. 


18 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


to break away from their parent bodies or to leave their original 
homes, and the subsequent wanderings of these groups. until they 
reached their present locations. The stories deal also with the super- 
natural occurrences upon which the claims to lineage and sib totemic 
crests are based, and lastly they tell of encounters with other sib 
groups. These stories and the ceremonial prerogatives they justify 
are shared by the various subdivisions of the sib that are scattered in 
different communities, and are among the strongest bonds uniting 
them. The reality of this history is kept vivid because personal 
names, especially those that are assumed as titles, are derived from 
legendary or historic events, and those who bear them are the reincar- 
nations of the dead ancestors who took part in these events. Similarly, 
certain localities, even though they may lie beyond the present bound- 
aries of Tlingit country, must have a special meaning, a special quality 
of reality for the sib members, because these places are the scenes of 
sib history. It is the sib that provides a sort of unity to geography and 
history, a ‘logic’? which may prove to be more important than a 
purely spatial and temporal framework. 

For other peoples, however, history is more clearly anchored to 
and organized about a whole area, not a sib migration route, and the 
stories a man knows and tells will belong to his whole tribe or may 
refer especially to the section of the country where he lives. Thus, 
the locales of the stories told by the Chugach Eskimo informant with 
whom Dr. Kaj Birket-Smith and I worked in 1933 lay largely within 
that part of Prince William Sound with which the old man was 
familiar. His knowledge of the Sound was expressed, not simply by 
his familiarity with places where there were good landing beaches or 
dangerous reefs, or hunting grounds, or streams, etc., or by his knowl- 
edge of the names for these places, but also by his ability to tell the 
stories associated with them. Conversely, if he knew a story he 
knew where the events had taken place, and his stories were often 
good guides to archeological sites. The Sound was not crisscrossed 
for him by the migration routes of his ancestors ? but by the journeys 
of famous warriors, chiefs, or shamans, whose kinship affiliations are 
seldom mentioned; and certain places did not seem more important 
to him because they were associated with his own ancestors, as they 
would have been for a Tlingit. Yet many of the plots were the same 
as those the Tlingit tell as sib histories. 

This is not to be understood as implying, however, that the indi- 
vidual Tlingit will be ignorant of the traditions associated with other 
sibs in his own community or unable to give information about the 


2 The Chugach lack migration stories of any kind; ‘‘Chugach land’ is the land where the Chugach and 
their ancestors have always lived. The nearest approaches to migration stories mention only the founding 
of new villages within the Sound area (Birket-Smith, 1953, pp. 8, 185, 155 ff.). 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 19 


territories they claim and the sites of settlements they formerly 
occupied. This could hardly be so, if only because information of 
this kind belongs to the traditions that furnish the basis for ceremoni- 
alism at the potlatches in which all members of the community par- 
ticipate. It is rather that the most knowledgeable and interested 
informant is the one whose sib claims the story and the territory in 
question, and he is, therefore, the best one to ask for information 
about old sites within that territory. The only exception is the son 
of a man of that sib, because of the special bond between father and 
son, or the paternal grandson of a man of the sib. Among informants, 
the man who was early recognized as the heir presumptive to a chief is 
the best of all, if he can be induced to part with his valued knowledge, 
for he was ‘‘specially educated” as a child in the traditions of his sib 
and house. Some of these men have a wide reputation for their 
knowledge of the past. But since we did not have the opportunity to 
work with any of them, we do not know how justified such reputations 
may be, nor to what extent their knowledge may include specific items 
pertaining to sibs other than their own. 

In the fund of traditions that are common property and that can 
be elicited from any reasonably informed person, are stories of the 
remote mythical past, the doings of Raven, for example, and the 
events of the Great Flood which are incorporated into the Raven 
cycle. These stories often explain the appearance of peculiar rock 
formations, or have as their scenes prominent mountains or other 
impressive features of the landscape. Some of the stories about 
the great mythical heroes or well-known supernatural beings, although 
associated with particular sibs, are commonly known and many per- 
sons have visited the scenes of these adventures. Traditions associ- 
ated with the dominant sib of the community are almost community 
traditions because this sib is in a position to emphasize them through 
its prominence in ceremonial affairs, and because its numerical size 
assures it representation in most households. The Raven Decitan at 
Angoon is such a sib. Even the two smaller Raven groups acknowl- 
edge their descent from Decitan forebears, and so share in some 
Decitan traditions. Pertaining to the more recent past are numerous 
common stories, ranging from such terrible events as the destruction 
of Angoon by the Coast Guard in 1882, to the mysterious drowning of 
a woman and child in the Inlet a few years ago, or the purchase of 
the new cannery at Hood Bay in 1947. 

For the Tlingit, as for any people, the land in which they live is 
given a dimension and meaning above that which can be expressed in 
ordinary geographical terms or in present use. Part of southeastern 
Alaska is the territory of their own geographical community or tribe, 
subdivided into the areas specially claimed by the component sibs; 


20 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


the rest stretches away into the regions belonging to other Tlingit 
tribes and to alien groups with whom they have or used to have 
friendly or hostile relations. The land may also be subdivided into 
the well-known regions of home and of places often visited, the less 
familiar localities that are seldom visited, and, lastly, remote areas 
that are known only through hearsay. The land also has special 
places or regions of particular significance derived from the myths, 
legends, and histories associated with them, modified or overlaid for 
each individual by his sib affiliation and by the personal experiences 
of himself and his family. 

I have spoken of Tlingit land as divided into areas, but this is 
probably not how the native thinks of it. For him territory is rather 
conceived in terms. of points, that is, of spots and localities. We are 
accustomed to think of the land in terms of areas that are marked 
off by boundaries. There are, or should be, no gaps between these 
areas; the boundary of one is the boundary of the next. Our geo- 
graphical knowledge we feel is incomplete so long as there remain 
“blank spaces on the map.” This scheme is natural for a people 
who divide land into acres, city blocks, half sections, or national 
territories. As individuals we differ, of course, in our ability to 
visualize the country as a map or to retain an awareness of the cardinal 
directions as guides, but our first impulse when dealing with the 
unfamiliar is to orient ourselves with a map. 

If our picture of the world is that of the farmer, property-owner, 
and landlubber, the Tlingit’s is that of the traveler, especially the 
mariner, who is concerned with places and the routes between them. 
The world for the Tlingit is probably visualized more as it is in our 
sailing and harbor charts than as it is in our political areal maps, for 
such charts reduce the land to landfalls, to reefs, shoals, and anchor- 
ages to be avoided or sought, and they sacrifice or distort lineal and 
areal measurements to emphasize angles of direction.’ Sib territorial 
rights do not refer then to areas but to specific spots: fishing streams, 
coves, berry patches, or house sites, etc., and the terrain or waters 
between these places are simply the relatively undifferentiated land- 
scape through which one travels in going from one to the other. 
Even places on the unmarked waters, such as halibut banks, are 
located by lines of sight on prominent landmarks. Whereas our 
cardinal directions are astronomical in character and function like a 
grid which can be superimposed on any part of the world and so 
reduce all terrestrial space to one uniform scheme, at least two of the 
cardinal directions of the Tlingit refer primarily to the flow of currents 


2Jt would be interesting in this connection to know to what extent and how skillfully the Tlingit 
actually make use of U. 8. Coast and Geodetic Survey Charts, or of the loran with which a number of 
their seine boats are equipped. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY yA 


in their home waters, and even here they lack an absolute quality. 
Thus, ‘northward,’ nAnd, is essentially “upriver,” and “southward,” 
’ixd, is “downriver.” 

As the anthropologist endeavors to learn about the country from 
his informants, something derived from all these meanings is conveyed 
to him and he, too, catches glimpses of the landscape through their 
eyes. We have, of course, made only a beginning in gathering the 
sort of datajneededito understand the native conceptualization (or 
conceptualizations) of his country. In addition to fuller data, we 
should also have to determine how far it would be justifiable, from 
the native point of view, to separate into different categories the 
various spots associated with different types of mythical and historical 
traditions. These places would include the rocks that Raven shaped, 
mountains where men took refuge during the Flood, places where sib 
ancestors had supernatural adventures, sites where sib houses were 
first built, and, lastly, villages occupied ‘‘in grandfather’s time.” The 
white man almost automatically divides such places into those asso- 
ciated with myth and those with historical traditions, with perhaps 
an intermediate group of legendary-but-maybe-historical, as I have 
done here. But is this necessarily the way the natives conceive 
them? Our temporal scheme of evenly marching years and centuries 
demands the ranking of events into earlier and later points on a 
single time scale. Some of the natives’ stories are for us simply 
incredible; others seem as if they might be true or contain elements 
of truth. Traditions about old dwelling places are verified for us 
by the finding of such objective remains as camp debris or house 
pits. To what extent do the Tlingit have a time scale like ours, and 
what for them determines the credibility of tradition? 

I suspect, although I cannot prove it, that their time scale is es- 
sentially looser than ours, and that even before the deculturation 
of recent years had blurred the details of the traditions, the Tlingit 
could accommodate more of inconsistency and vagueness than we 
would tolerate. I suspect, however, that they do make a distinction 
between ordinary historical time and ‘“‘myth time,” the latter being a 
period when the world was mysteriously different or only partly 
formed.* But I doubt whether it would be possible for them to rank 
in a temporal sequence the bulk of the traditions of the various sibs, 
which presumably refer to events that occurred between ‘‘myth time”’ 
and the present era. Too often, for example, our informants found 


4 Boas (1916, p. 565) points out that the Northwest Coast tribes distinguish between myths and tales on 
the basis of whether or not the world was different from what it is now (e. g., whether animals might appear 
in human form), although some stories are hard to place. This implies a distinction between ‘myth time” 
and historical time. Boas suggests that most stories referring to the origins of sibs and crests are myths, 
although many Tlingit stories of this type seem to refer to an intermediate period, or even to one that they 
recognize as only a few hundred years old. 


22 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


it impossible to say whether an episode was supposed to have occurred 
before or after the coming of the Russians. Furthermore, what we 
would call the supernatural can apparently happen at any time, 
although the greatest manifestations were in the past when shamans 
had more power. 

In one sense, all of the various traditions are alive today and all 
are credible to the less sophisticated native, although perhaps in 
different ways. For the landscape endures as testimony to the 
stories of the past. Thus, curiously shaped rocks are the work of 
Raven. Bad weather is caused when foolish youths climb to the 
Flood refuge mountains or even point a finger at them. (Since 
Raven, yet, is actually equated by some with the Christian Creator, 
and the Flood associated with him is the Biblical Flood, the teachings 
of the Church may even reinforce some of these beliefs.) The salmon 
stream at Hood Bay where a shaman obtamed power from a, rotting 
salmon still flows, the cave to which his spirit carried him is still 
presumably under Kootznahoo Head, and the shaman himself is 
reincarnated in the Daql’awedi chief who bears his name. Although 
the archeologists may have failed to find traces of the first Daql’awedi 
village on Admiralty Island at the spot indicated by tradition, the 
natives might argue and we would have to agree that this cannot 
disprove the tradition, for house pits and stone adzes have been 
found at other village sites mentioned in other sib traditions. 

In the last analysis, the archeologist cannot afford to neglect 
any clue suggested by these stories and myths. The rock supposed 
to have been shaped by Raven might turn out to have petroglyphs or 
pictographs. (In Prince William Sound, rock paintings had a mythi- 
cal origin, being ascribed to a cannibal monster, the chief of the 
spirits, not to the ancestors of the Chugach.) It is possible, too, 
that the archeologist might find something of interest in the ‘‘stone 
nests” said to have been built as protection against bears on the 
mountaintops during the Flood, for Dr. John C. Reed of the United 
States Geological Survey informs me that many years ago he found 
some mysterious stone cairns on the uplands of Baranof Island. 
While these were not on the peaks, and did not seem to have been 
built for defense, they may have suggested the notion of the flood 
‘nests.”? Again, the various caves that are mentioned in a number 
of stories might yield surprising contents if they could be found. 
Even if a majority of the traditions referring to places should prove 
to be simply fanciful explanations for natural features without arche- 
ological significance, others may refer to places that have caught the 
natives’ interest because they actually do give evidence of topographic 
changes, such as changes of sea level, of drainage, or of glacial move- 
ments, and so may be of indirect value to the archeologist. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 23 


Although I had originally planned to present in the next section 
information only on archeological sites, reported or actually tested, 
I have come to feel, because of the considerations given above, that 
there should be included mention of other localities with mythological 
or historical associations, even though these are not supposed to have 
any archeological significance. 


ANGOON TRIBAL TERRITORY 
THE ANGOON PEOPLE 


In the following pages ethnological and archeological information 
concerning the territory of the Angoon people is presented in an 
attempt to explore what this territory means to the natives and what 
opportunities it offers to the archeologist. Some of the places men- 
tioned below were visited and explored by us; others we know only 
from hearsay. Neither the ethnological nor the archeological data 
should be considered as more than a sampling. Both in the field and 
in preparing this report I have relied heavily upon Garfield’s sum- 
mary of Angoon traditions (1947) and upon the survey of aboriginal 
territorial claims made by Goldschmidt and Haas (1946). Our trans- 
literation of native names has been corrected by reference to Boas’ 
erammatical study of the Tlingit (1917), and this work has also been 
consulted in attempting to translate or explain the meanings of Tlingit 
words.** 

Angoon territory includes most of the west shore and southern 
end of Admiralty Island (from Point Marsden or even Funter Bay on 
the northwest to Chapin Bay on the southeast) and the opposite 
shores of Chichagof and Baranof Islands (from False Bay on the north 
to Gut Bay or even Patterson Bay on the south). Chatham Strait, 
which bisects their lands, is one of the largest fiords in southeastern 
Alaska. Running almost due north from its mouth on the open sea 
between Baranof and Kuiu Islands, it cuts diagonally across the north- 
ern half of the Alexander Archipelago, and continues, as Lynn Canal, 
deep into the mainland. Icy Strait and Cross Sound run westward 
from the northern end of Chatham Strait, between Chichagof Island 
and the mainland to the north, to give access to the open sea. Farther 
south, Frederick Sound branches eastward from the southern part of 
Chatham Strait to divide Admiralty Island from the islands of the 
Kuiu and Kupreanof group, and connects with Stephens Passage. 
The latter is a north-south fiord between Admiralty Island and the 
mainland, which leads to Taku Inlet, Juneau, and eventually to Lynn 
Canal. (Fig. 1.) 

4a Boas’ Tlingit orthography is followed here, except that a raised w is used instead of his raised u, small 


capitals instead of his lower-case Greek vowels, and, because of typographical difficulties, the apostrophe 
indicating glottalization foliows forms of L instead of being placed over it. 


460927—60—_3 


24 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (Bull. 172 


a Archeological Sites 
e Towns 


fe} 10 Mites 
| — omen —— enee —— j 


© 
2 
3 
nal 
By 


Deepweler 


Chapin Bay =O 
Herring Bay © 


Figure 1.—The home of the Angoon people and adjoining territories. Drawn by 


Irene Waraksa. 


de Laguna} THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 25 


Their geographical position marks the Angoon people as one of the 
most southerly of the northern Tlingit. Their territory adjoins that 
of the Hoonah and Sitka on the north and west, the Kake on the south, 
and the Taku and Auke on the east and northeast. Because of their 
situation on the central axis of the inland fiord system they are 
neither oriented as strongly toward the open sea as are the more 
maritime Tlingit groups, nor as exclusively toward the rivers and 
inland bays as are the mainland tribes. Since their islands lack 
certain natural resources, these were formerly obtained in trade 
from their neighbors. The Angoon people were and are accomplished 
boatmen, for great skill in handling small craft is required to penetrate 
the dangerous channels of Kootznahoo Inlet, through which the 
tides rise like rivers, or to travel on Chatham Strait which is exposed 
to the full violence of southeasterly storms. 

The Angoon people are described by Swanton (1907, pt. 1, p. 592) 
in the Handbook of American Indians as: 

Hutsnuwu (‘grizzly bear fort’). A Tlingit tribe on the w. and s. coasts of Ad- 
miralty id., Alaska; pop. estimated at 300 in 1840, and given as 666 in 1880 and 
420 in 1890. Their former towns were Angun and Nahltushkan, but they now 
live at Killisnoo. [Since the above was written, the population has been con- 
centrated at Angoon, and the other towns are deserted.] Their social divisions 
[sibs] are Ankakehittan, Daktlawedi, Deshuhittan, Tekoedi, and Wushketan. 
Swanton gives their native name as Xits!nuwi’, and lists such 
variants as Chiits-ta-kén (Krause), Chtitznou (Holmberg), Hootz- 
ah-tar-qwan (Emmons), and Koohznahoo (Petroff), etc. 

Our informants referred to themselves as xutsnuwuwedi, ‘‘People 
of the Brown Bear’s Fort.”’ This name is appropriate both from their 
point of view and ours. According to tradition, when the people first 
came to the site of Angoon (‘Angin “Isthmus Town’’), a narrow 
strip of land between Kootznahoo Inlet on Admiralty Island and 
Chatham Strait, there were no trees on this peninsula and a bear 
or bears were seen walking around. So the people named the place 
xuts nuwu ‘‘Brown Bear’s Fort.’”’ The name is also applied to Ad- 
miralty Island as a whole, xutsnuwu xat “Brown Bear’s Fort Island,” 
and the east side of the island is sometimes referred to as xutsnuwu 
’atek ‘That behind the Brown Bear’s Fort.’’ The expression 
xutsnuwu lit‘A, translated as ‘Sharp Nose for knife] of the Brown 
Bear’s Fort,” is applied both (?) to the north end of the whole island, 
and to Danger Point at the end of Angoon Peninsula. 

Admiralty Island is noted today for its large population of brown 
grizzlies, and has been set aside as a preserve for them. The woods 
and bushes near Angoon are a favorite resort of bears, and hardly a 
week passes in summer without someone either seeing a bear or finding 
fresh bear signs, incidents which furnish anxious and excited topics 


26 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


of conversation. In both 1949 and 1950 the townspeople were par- 
ticularly concerned because a family of bears had made their home 
in the berry patches on the peninsula northwest of the town, and the 
excitement caused by sighting one of them on the very day of our 
arrival in 1950 was probably why the tradition of the name was the 
first piece of ethnographic information to be volunteered. There was 
talk of organizing a party to dispose of these dangerous neighbors, 
but it came to nothing, probably because none of the men was an 
experienced bear hunter, and enthusiasm soon gave way to caution. 
For weeks people kept watching for the reappearance of the bears 
on the beach near the graveyard, or anticipated the reported coming 
of a game commissioner to kill them. We were not only entertained 
with bear stories—supernatural, heroic, or ludicrous—but the people 
kept impressing us with the dangers of venturing unarmed into the 
woods, and took care to instruct us in the traditional Tlingit speeches 
to be made to a bear should one be encountered. Despite all the 
fearful excitement, the native children continued to bicycle along 
the road through the woods to Killisnoo Harbor and the women and 
children went into the favorite bear haunts to gather berries. 

The Angoon people recognize that they form a local community, 
but express this by saying that they are a group of ‘‘tribes” or “na- 
tions,” that is, a group of sibs. Although Angoon is now actually a 
political unit, composed of ‘the Indians having a’ common bond of 
residence in the neighborhood of Angoon,” (to quote from the Cor- 
porate Charter and the Constitution, adopted November 15, 1939), 
there was formerly no common bond but the purely social one of 
residence, and even that was more tenuous during the last century 
when there were several distinct villages. When we speak of ‘“‘An- 
goon tribal territory,” therefore, we really refer to the territories or 
places claimed or used by the lineages and sibs formerly resident in 
those separate but affiliated villages and by their present descendants 
now living together in Angoon. It is not easy to define the limits of 
these sib territories (i. e., to determine the exact status of certain 
outlying localties), because a number of Angoon sibs have local 
branches in other tribal centers: at Juneau, Hoonah, and Sitka, each 
of which claimed or claims territorial rights. As local subsibs or 
lineages died off in one tribe, their relatives in other tribes have claimed 
or used their hunting and fishing places. Furthermore, transfers 
from sib to sib of territorial rights, through war or peaceful settle- 
ments, have resulted in shifts of boundaries (Garfield, 1947, p. 452). 

Nevertheless, the xutsnuwuwedi obviously did and do feel them- 
selves to be a distinct group, and recognize closer social and linguistic 
affiliations with other northern Tlingit tribes (to use the term in its 
ordinary sense) than with tribes to the south. Frederick Sound is 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 27 


felt to be something of a cultural and dialectical frontier. There is 
also an awareness that the Tlingit as a whole form one people, dis- 
tinct from the Haida and Tsimshian to the south, the Gunana or 
Athabaskans of the Interior, and the “‘Aleuts over to the westward”’ 
across the Gulf of Alaska. The Haida and Tsimshian are not only 
more like themselves, but also live in southeastern Alaska, which is 
essentially the Tlingit world. 

The sense of Tlingit unity has certainly found expression and been 
fostered by the creation of the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB), 
originally founded as a pan-Indian organization to secure native 
rights, prevent discrimination by the whites, and further native wel- 
fare. Although planned to include all native groups in Alaska, it 
has remained predominantly Tlingit. 

There are now about 350 members of the Angoon community, 
almost all of whom live within the narrow limits of the town. They 
are divided into five maitrilineal sibs that have lineage houses and 
territorial rights in the area. In the Raven moiety are the Decitan, 
“People of the End of the (Beaver) Trail House,’ referring to the 
story of the founding of Angoon (see pp. 131 ff.). This is the largest 
and most important sib in the community. The “Basket (Bay) 
People” (qakwedi, from q‘ak” “‘basket’’) form a somewhat distinct 
subdivision of the Decitan. The second Raven sib is the ’Anxakhitan, 
“People of the Middle of the Village House,” who also refer to them- 
selves as the ‘‘Dog Salmon People” after their main crest, or as 
L’medi to emphasize their close relationship to the sib of that name 
at Juneau. They are recognized as having originated from one of 
the Decitan lineages. 

In the Eagle (or Wolf) moiety are the Teq”edi, sometimes called 
the ‘Brown Bear People” (xutsq”an); the Daqlawedi, also called the 
“Killer Whale People” (kitq”an); and the Wuckitan, ‘‘People of the 
Over-all House.” The last sib was originally divided into three 
branches: (1) Auke Bay or Juneau (’Ak” wuckitan), (2) Freshwater 
Bay on Chichagof Island (as4énke wuckitan), and (3) Angoon 
(xutsnuwu wuckitan). The last were apparently very closely related 
to lineages at Sitka; in fact, our informant did not distinguish between 
them. The “true Angoon Wuckitan” became extinct in 1947 or 1948, 
and the present representatives of the sib at Angoon are descendants 
of the Freshwater Bay division who have inherited the rights of 
their Angoon relatives. There are also some Wuckitan men from 
Juneau, and some Kagwantan men (‘‘People of the Burned Down 
House’’), mostly from Sitka, and a few individuals from other tribes 
and sibs, who have married Angoon women and who live in Angoon, 
although they are still outsiders because they have no lineage houses 
in the village. 


28 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


A number of Angoon men and women have married out of the town, 
or have left for other reasons, although they would be treated as 
citizens if they returned. In addition, the ’Anxakhitan, Teq*edi, 
and Daq}’awedi, like the Wuckitan, have branches among other 
tribes: Auke, Chilkat, Sitka, and Hoonah, and it is with these groups 
that the Angoon people have their closest links. 


ANGOON LAND 


The world of the people of Angoon is made by the wide arms of the 
sea, straits that one day may be calm as oily ponds and the next be 
lashed into a fury of whitecaps. From these main thoroughfares the 
fiords lead deep into the land, some offering safe haven and easy 
passage for canoes, others becoming narrow canyons for fierce tidal 
rivers. The sea dominates both the life and death of the people. Of 
those who escape the swift devastation of epidemics or the slow rot of 
tuberculosis, unknown before the white man’s coming, a great many 
die by drowning. Often drunkenness can be blamed for the accident, 
yet curiously this makes the death less horrible in native eyes, because 
of the belief that the body of a drunken man will float and can be 
recovered. Those who were never found, according to the old pagan 
dogma, could not enjoy the warm afterworld reserved for those whose 
bodies were cremated, but were doomed to wander in the guise of 
land otters, lurking to kidnap the shipwrecked or children lost in the 
woods whom they transformed into creatures like themselves. Special 
magical precautions were enjoined on persons who had once been in 
danger of drowning and who had escaped, lest the water claim them 
again. Enough of these attitudes persist today to make drowning 
the most dreaded and tragic of deaths, and the land otter an unpleas- 
ant animal to encounter. Although stories of particular drownings 
are attached to localities, these do not seem to be places toshun. The 
horror belongs more to the manner of death than to the place, although 
the spot may be recognized as dangerous. Rather, the attitude is 
that local knowledge and skill (and sometimes in the old days the use 
of a respectful formula for addressing the water) can make these 
places safe. Treacherous waters are dangerous only to strangers, 
i. e., enemies, while the rocky headlands and precipitous islands that 
rise above the currents and reefs were formerly places of refuge for 
the people in time of war. 

The sea is also the source of life. From the deeps each year come 
the hordes of salmon to spawn in the streams. In the old days, we 
are told, the runs were so heavy that a few fish traps could supply 
all that a large household (20 to 40 persons) could eat in a year, and 
no special magic was necessary for salmon fishing. Schools of herring 
used to crowd so tightly into the bays that a strong arm was needed 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 29 


to drive the fish rake through the mass of their bodies. With them 
came the harbor seals, porpoises, and whales. Fur seals, sea lions 
and sea otters were killed in the outer waters. (Actually, as we shall 
see, there were many sea otters in the bays, although this is now for- 
gotten.) Deep holes were the hiding places of devilfish. A few 
were said to be so large that they could swallow whole villages and 
could render murky all the water in a bay; “ordinary” devilfish, 
however, furnished the bait for halibut hooks. These old-style hooks, 
when rendered lucky by virtue of their names, their carvings, and the 
spells said to them, caught only the largest halibut, it is claimed, 
unlike the white man’s hook that kills fish before they have attained 
their full size. The moving tides along the shores still uncover an 
abundance of edible seaweed, salt grass, and shellfish. One only has 
to be careful not to eat mussels during the season when the salmon- 
berries flower and bear their fruit, for then mussels are poisonous.° 

The land, however, rises steep and somber from the rocky shores 
or from the narrow flats along the water’s edge. Under the dense 
forests of hemlock, spruce, fir, and cedar it is always dark. Festoons 
of moss drip from the trees, and a wet slippery carpet of moss hides 
the fallen logs. Old clearings soon become choked with elderberries, 
salmonberries, blueberries, etc., and within a short distance of the 
village the women and children can pick heavy buckets or baskets of 
fruit. The devilclub, thorny of leaf and branch, stabs the unwary 
passer-by, but once furnished magical protection against disease if 
pieces were nailed to the corners of the house. Weeds, too, could be 
used for medicines and charms. In the forests and swamps there are 
still deer, bear, beaver, and other fur bearers. 

Although the country of the Angoon people is actually composed 
of islands, these have almost the character of the mainland. They 
are so large that their true size and nature can be fully appreciated 
only from a plane. Above the timbered slopes rise steep volcanic 
peaks, 3,000 to 4,000 feet high, which served as refuges during the 
Flood, and today furnish magical means of controlling or predicting 
the weather. The larger islands have small glaciers. The interior is 
not often traversed, and the dangers of becoming lost in the woods 
are recognized. It was inland that the supernatural beings were most 
likely to be encountered in the old days. 

The land supplies some food, and also most of the materials needed 
for aboriginal tools and manufactures. Aside from sealskin floats, 
kelp fishing lines, and mussel-shell knives, almost everything else was 
made from the rocks and plants of the land, but these were sought on 


5 Cases of mussel poisoning, resulting in paralysis and death, are well known in both the early and the 
modern history of Alaska. The mussels become poisoned by microorganisms that multiply,during the 
summer (cf. de Laguna, 1956, pp. 6 f.). 


30 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


the beach or as close to the water as possible. The woodworker in the 
old days used a greenstone adz, sandstone or shale whetstone, and 
minerals for paint. Trees furnished the posts and planks for the 
house, bark for temporary dwellings, logs for canoes. Even the boxes 
and baskets in which food was stored and cooked were made of wood 
and spruce roots, and were stained with vegetable dyes. Deer bones 
were preferred for awls and harpoon points. 

But the land was in a real sense only the back drop for the life 
which faced the salt water. Most of the village sites were small 
flats, cramped between the beach and the steep hillside, and where 
space permitted the houses were ranged in a line just above the water. 
Sites for settlements were chosen more for a good landing beach for 
canoes than for convenient access by trail to inland hunting or trap- 
ping grounds. Summer villages and camps might be far up the bays 
near the salmon streams, but for the winter village of permanent 
houses the people prized a view of the more open waters across which 
the canoes of their friends or of their enemies might be seen approach- 
ing. The hunter went inland as little as possible, and tried to train 
his dogs to drive the deer to where he waited on the beach. Ob- 
viously, heavy timbers were cut near the water and were towed, not 
carried, to their destinations. Even in death the people remained 
near the beach. The cemeteries, now and in the past, are on the 
slopes close behind the houses or on the shore beyond the end of the 
village. A shaman’s grave always faced across the water from some 
headland or cave in the cliff above the shore, and those who paddled 
past usually cast a small offering into the water for his ghost. 

Almost all the place names which we secured referred to bodies of 
salt water (bays, coves), the streams that enter it, islands, points, 
rocks on the shore, or to mountaintops visible from the water. Had 
we been able to go inland with a guide we might have secured names 
for hills, tributary streams, etc., but it is probably significant that 
not one of our informants mentioned such specific features of the 
land, except for a few lakes in which the sockeye salmon spawn.°® 
The Tlingit world is essentially the ribbon of the shoreline that winds 
along the indented coasts of the islands and fiords. Its parts are 
linked by boat routes across the open water. Only in certain places 
does the world expand with arms that run inland up the streams to 
some lake or to a trail that links the headwaters of two bays. 


ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES IN GENERAL 


As will be seen from the more detailed descriptions that follow, the 
archeological sites comprise chiefly: (1) sites of former villages, most 


6 Krause, 1885, p. 151: The Tlingit distinguish and name only useful valleys, bays, streams, etc., not 
mountains. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 31 


of which served for a time as summer camping places after the in- 
habitants had moved to Angoon, and which are now all but aban- 
doned, (2) sites of forts on high points or small islands, and (3) a 
few localities with petroglyphs or pictographs. Other localities are 
prominent rocks or landmarks that are supposed to have been shaped 
by or are otherwise associated with supernatural agencies. 

Perhaps our greatest surprise was that the village sites should be 
so small in extent and so meager in cultural deposits. They had 
been described to us as places where many people once lived, but we 
found nothing to indicate more than half a dozen houses at any one 
place, and usually fewer. A house might hold from 10 to almost 
40 persons, with 20 as a fair average. At these sites, too, there was 
little to suggest a lengthy occupation. Generally speaking, the 
larger the area that might have been inhabited, the thinner and 
scantier the traces of midden. Since the land has apparently, from 
all observable signs, risen very slightly in this area, we cannot ex- 
plain the meagerness of the archeological record as due to destruction 
by the encroaching sea.’ On the contrary, the older sites would be 
expected to be safe above the present limits of the tide. We must, 
however, note the statement made by Vancouver about evidence for 
subsidence of the land in this area, especially since his observations 
of subsidence in Prince William Sound have been confirmed both by 
survey parties of the United States Geological Survey and by my own 
archeological work (de Laguna, 1956, pp. 3 f.). Thus Vancouver 
writes: 

[Lt. Whidbey] states, that in his last two excursions [when he explored Icy Strait 
and Lynn Canal, and circumnavigated Admiralty Island] several places were 
seen, where the ocean was evidently encroaching very rapidly on the land, and 
the low borders extending from the base of the mountains to the sea side, had, 
at no very remote period of time, produced tall and stately timber; as many of 
their dead trunks were found standing erect, and still rooted fast in the ground, 
in different stages of decay; those being most perfect that had been least subject 
to the influence of the salt water, by which they were surrounded on every flood 
tide; such had been the encroachment of the ocean on these shores, that the 
shorter stumps in some instances at low water mark, were even with, or below 
the surface of the sea. [Vancouver, 1801, vol. 6, pp. 53 f.] 

These observations may, of course, refer only to the areas north of 
Cross Sound, but if they apply to regions to the south, then we must 
believe that the relative subsidence of the land here reported must 
have been obscured by a relative uplift which occurred since 1794. 
If this were the case, sites in the Angoon area may indeed have been 
destroyed or well hidden. 

At many sites, the configuration of the land is such that only a 

7 Buddington (1927) summarizes the evidence for uplift in southeastern Alaska south of Cross Sound and 


Icy Strait. There was subsidence ofat least 20 feet in Glacier Bay, north of Cross Sound, since the climax 
of glacial advance about 150 to 200 years ago. 


32 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


limited area seems to have been available for settlement, and here 
our test pits probably revealed fairly accurately the archeological 
character of the site. In other places, where we searched the adjacent 
woods as well as the obvious clearing, we could find no trace of early 
occupation. There were often the ridges of abandoned potato 
gardens, now overgrown with young trees, but nothing more ancient 
in the soil itself. Of course, negative evidence of this kind cannot be 
taken as conclusive. It is almost impossible to sink a test pit in the 
forest, because the interlaced roots of the trees are all but impene- 
trable, and more digging than we were able to accomplish would be 
necessary to prove that there was, for example, no hidden site in the 
woods behind the flat at Chaik Bay. 

The situation can, perhaps, be better understood by referring to 
two sites at Mole Harbor, on the east side of Admiralty Island, 
although these are in the territory of the Taku tribe. The late 
Allen Hasselborg showed us these sites in 1949. The younger of the 
two, apparently founded within historic times and abandoned in 
1895, is on a gravel bar at the mouth of a salmon stream at the head 
of the bay. It can be reached by canoe at high tide. Mr. Hasselborg 
said there were once two or three houses here, of which nothing now 
remains but a few stakes. There is a deep trench cut into the gravel 
bank, in which a canoe could have been sheltered under mats. The 
older site is on a higher terrace, on the same side of the stream, but a 
quarter of a mile above the mouth. According to native tradition, 
salt water at high tide once reached half a mile up the stream, to 
where Mr. Hasselborg built his cabin. At that time, the bar on 
which the newer settlement was located would have been under water, 
and canoes could have gone up to the older settlement. When Mr. 
Hasselborg started in 1916 to clear the older site for a garden, there 
was no visible sign of former occupation, for the site was hidden by 
timber 90 to 100 years old, he judged by the tree rings. Under one 
tree he found the remains of a still older stump which had been cut 
with a stone adz. This site was said to have been abandoned when 
the original Taku inhabitants were massacred by natives from 
Wrangell. 

Had this place not been selected for a garden, it is doubtful if the 
site would ever have been found, for there would have been nothing 
to suggest its existence in the forest a good quarter of a mile up a 
stream which is now too shallow for a boat. .Yet here Mr. Hasselborg 
has found quantities of artifacts. The only specimen of White manu- 
facture was an old-fashioned axhead, which was probably lost by a 
woodcutter from the newer village downstream. Mr. Hasselborg 
judged that there had been about three houses facing the stream, with 
a shelly midden behind them. Practically all his finds were made 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 33 


within 10 inches of the surface. The quantities of fire-cracked rocks 
in the upper layers of the old site are very impressive; he used them 
to make a retaining wall along the whole edge of the terrace. 

In the test pit which we were permitted to dig, we found the fol- 
lowing: the upper 10 inches of soil were disturbed by gardening; 
10-24 inches below the surface was humus with shells of mussel, 
cockle, and sea urchin, and some animal bones; below this the deposit 
became increasingly stoney, with a “pavement” of shale fragments 
in rich black earth; at 36 inches was sterile white clay. 

Most of the artifacts found by Mr. Hasselborg have been given to 
the Alaska Territorial Museum at Juneau, but he generously pre- 
sented us with the following specimens:*® broken splitting adz, celt, 
3 slate chisels, maul head, 2 heads for war club or war pick, 10 pestles 
or hand-hammer fragments (the oldest found in white clay about 30 
inches below the surface), 14 slabs of slate or shale and 2 of sandstone 
(smoothed on both surfaces, and some neatly beveled along the 
edges, used as whetstones, etc.), 2 paddle-shaped slate scrapers, 
2 slate chips with naturally sharp edges (very common here, and 
probably used as knives), 4 fragments of slate blades (one with a 
drilled hole and another with cuts made by a stone saw), tanged and 
barbed harpoon head of whalebone, and fragments of worked bone 
and stone. Since these specimens represented only a fraction of 
those found by Mr. Hasselborg, it is evident that this site was once 
very rich. 

The lesson to be learned is that the oldest Tlingit sites may well 
escape detection, owing to changes in sea level and the growth of the 
forests. Excavation of such sites would require great labor in clearing 
away trees and stumps before the real archeological work could 
begin. Our archeological information is likely, therefore, to be 
derived from such sites as have been occupied up to recent years or 
have recently been cleared again. 

The scantiness of the remains of what appear to be old sites within 
the Angoon area (especially at Whitewater and Sitkoh Bays) needs 
explanation. Even these most promising village sites contrast strik- 
ingly with the reported forts (Pillsbury Point, Daxatkanada Island, 
Marten Fort in Hood Bay), where there were not only real shelly 
middens but artifacts. The soil in southeastern Alaska is naturally 
very sour, and unless a shell midden has accumulated, the acidity of 
the soil destroys bone material in a relatively short time. Further- 
more, the shells, while encouraging the growth of berry bushes, 
apparently prevent for some time the growth of conifers, and there- 
fore make sites with shell middens much easier to find and excavate 


8 University of Pennsylvania Museum, catalog Nos. 49-25-60 to —106. 


34 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


and much more rewarding in bone contents. But why should sites 
with shell middens apparently contain more stone artifacts than sites 
without middens, since stone is virtually indestructible? 

One has the impression that the same habits that led to the accumu- 
lation of middens were also responsible for the losing of artifacts in 
them; that conversely, where such kitchen refuse is not present, arti- 
facts of all types are much rarer. Again we must go outside the 
Angoon area for an example which may offer an explanation. Near 
Yakutat there is a village site with several house pits. Test holes 
dug in one house and in a few places between the houses revealed only 
clean sterile sand below the humus. According to local tradition, 
the inhabitants of this village used to sweep the place every evening 
with eagle wings and throw the rubbish into the bay. This tradition 
would seem to be verified by archeology, except that some kitchen 
refuse and artifacts had been deposited in certain places between the 
houses to form mounds of midden. Today, the streets, paths, and 
yards of Angoon and other Tlingit settlements are relatively clear 
of trash; all garbage and refuse and discarded artifacts are thrown onto 
the beach, where they are eventually washed away or buried by silt 
and gravel. Whether this practice may have originated because of 
notions that fish and sea mammal remains must be returned to the 
sea, we cannot say, but it evidently represents a deep-seated habit of 
the Tlingit. This certainly distinguishes them from the Eskimo, 
whose past and present houses are built on or in the accumulated 
middens of generations, and whose house cleaning is apt to consist 
of little more than throwing refuse out the door. It would appear, 
therefore, that the old village sites in the Angoon area are relatively 
sterile because the inhabitants threw their rubbish into the sea. 
Exceptions would be special trash mounds or pits (abandoned house 
sites or underground caches) which may have been used for the dis- 
posal of some remains. Especially where houses were built with 
platforms projecting over the beach, we should expect that all or 
almost all that might interest the archeologist would have been lost 
to the sea. Only heavy and indestructible stone artifacts would be 
expected to have survived on the beaches, and it is indeed there that 
many of our stone adzes were found. 

But these habits do not seem to have prevailed to the same extent 
at the places used as forts. Here rubbish and discarded artifacts 
have accumulated on the surface or spilled down the slopes, and here 
the archeologist is likely to find the richest rewards. Unfortunately, 
however, because these sites were not permanent settlements—at 
least not in most cases—but temporary refuges, we should not expect 
to find there the best pieces of carved bone and stone, which would 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 35 


have been left behind at the winter lineage houses or carefully hidden.® 
An impression based upon the artifacts found is likely to be of a much 
less rich culture than the prehistoric Tlingit actually possessed. Our 
knowledge of the development of Tlingit art will probably be limited 
almost entirely to the wood carving of historic times, recorded in 
pictures or preserved in museums, except for the designs pecked or 
painted on rocks, and the latter, as far as we can tell, exhibit styles 
of their own. 


ADMIRALTY ISLAND NORTH OF KOOTZNAHOO INLET 


The Angoon people probably had no territorial claims in the west 
coast of Admiralty Island north of Point Marsden or Hawk Inlet. 
Mansfield Peninsula on the very northwest corner of the island lay 
beyond their territories. Hawk Inlet on the west of the Peninsula, 
like Young Bay on the east, probably belonged to the Auke Bay or 
Juneau branch of the Wuckitan, and there were once many of them 
living near Young Bay.’® The area between Point Marsden and 
Fishery Point, like the opposite shore of Chichagof Island from False 
Bay to Tenakee Inlet inclusive, was also Wuckitan territory, belong- 
ing to the Freshwater Bay division, although there do not seem to 
have been any permanent settlements on this part of Admiralty 
Island. Goldschmidt and Haas (1946, pp. 112, 117) assign the area 
south of Florence or Fishery Creek to the Decitan, and report a former 
Decitan graveyard between Marble Bluffs and Parker Point in the 
middle of this stretch, but deny that there were any permanent camps 
in the area. Certainly the coastline is relatively straight, with few 
features such as streams, islands, coves, etc., which might have at- 
tracted settlement. Our informants had little to say about it, and 
it probably had little meaning for them except as scenery to be passed 
in going to Juneau or Hoonah. 


THAYER CREEK 


We were told that there had been an old village at Thayer Creek 
(‘Poison Water’’), about 4 miles north of Angoon. The stream is 
called watkasats (possibly wat “‘stream mouth,” k‘a “on,” and sat*‘f 
“master of’’), and is a sockeye stream that flows froma lake. A white 
man reported pictures on the rocks just north of the stream mouth, 
said to resemble a moon and an eye, but a native who had landed 
here many times to hunt had neither seen nor heard of them. He 
agreed that there is an old clearing south of the stream mouth, like a 


§ Lisiansky (1814, p. 160, note) reports finding near old Sitka a cache of cloth and dried fish. ‘The inhabit- 
ants of Sitca sound always conceal in the woods such things as they do not immediately want, to prevent 
their being stolen, which would be the case if they kept them in their houses.”’ 

10 Vancouver (1801, vol. 6, p. 21) reports many natives living on or near Young Bay. 


36 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


garden, with only young spruce growing on it. We were unable to 
visit this place. 

South of Thayer Creek and a little over 2 miles north of Angoon 
is a small island, x4tAk”. On the cliffs behind the island there was 
formerly a shaman’s grave, like a little log cabin, with a canoe behind 
it. This was visible some 30 years ago, but the grave house has 
since fallen down. We were told to avoid the place, because, accord- 
ing to the old-fashioned belief, a shaman’s ghost is dangerous to 
intruders and may cause an illness to which women are particularly 
susceptible, and which may prove fatal to persons not belonging to 
the dead man’s sib. About 1,200 yards south of the island is a 
waterfall, xask “little waterfall’’. 


KOOTZNAHOO HEAD 


This high bluff, Kootznahoo Head, which marks the entrance to 
Kootznahoo Inlet, is called t‘at‘ik”’ xayz (?) “mouth of the cave.” 
Here there is said to be a cave under the water, to which a Daq!’- 
awedi shaman was carried miraculously from Hood Bay by a crane 
(see p. 141). Near here there is a place where it used to be possible to 
climb to the top of the cliff by means of a notched log, and the spot 
is called in consequence: ktix” tsetkr (?) ‘““Marten’s Small Ladder.” 
The ladder is mentioned in one version of the story of Daxatkanada 
(see p. 151). Material for black paint used to be obtained from the 
bluffs under Kootznahoo Head. 


KOOTZNAHOO INLET 
According to the Coast Pilot: 4 


Kootznahoo Inlet, comprising an area of about 15 square miles, is an intricate group 
of narrow passages, lagoons and bays ... It is full of rocks and reefs, and 
through the narrow passages the tidal currents rush with great velocity. 

This area is rich in game and other natural resources and has therefore 
attracted settlement (fig. 2). Angoon, the only village left in the 
whole region, is on the narrow isthmus between the Inlet and Chatham 
Strait, about 1 mile above (southeast of) the mouth of the Inlet. 
Visible from Angoon and within a radius of 1% miles, are a series of 
abandoned or semiabandoned native summer camps and a few cabins 
occupied by white men. Many of these camps mark the sites of 
earlier settlements. These places are all on the lower part of the Inlet, 
most of them in relatively quiet waters, although navigation to them 
from Angoon is dangerous or impossible at certain stages of the tide. 
Along the western side of the Inlet between Angoon and Danger Point 
at the end of Angoon Peninsula, there are a few smokehouses which 
can be reached by skiff along the slack water close to shore. There are 


11 United States Coast Pilot, Alaska, 1943, pt. 1, pp. 339-341, describes the inlet. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 37 


Steamer 
Passage 


Pillsbury Pt. RO 
% fe Paw! / tyne 2 
Kootznahoo oie se ae Mes 
: LZ 
Head y 


ouee 


fi" jos Pouch 
Se ’ Ouc: a 
E 


Songer Ihe 
WA 


ote Se 5 


Kenasnow Rks 
wa 
\S 


Fishing 
Village 
CHATHAM 


Favorité 
Bay 


Figure 2.—Map of vicinity of Angoon. 


other smokehouses and cabins at Turn Point directly across from 
Angoon; along Stillwater Anchorage northeast of Turn Point; at Pills- 
bury Point at the head of the anchorage; at Channel Point on the 
island forming the south shore of the anchorage; at Sullivan Point at 
the entrance to Favorite Bay on the southeast; and, lastly, on the 
Angoon side of the Inlet, along the cove opposite Sullivan Point and 


38 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


on what we may call Garnes Point from the name of the present white 
owner. Boats entering the Inlet may anchor for a short time in the 
cove at Angoon or moor at high water at the docks of the two stores, 
but the safe place where the natives keep their seine boats is still 
farther up, at the entrance to Favorite Bay. 

The entrance to Kootznahoo Inlet between Danger Point and Kootz- 
nahoo Head is only about half a mile wide, and at Turn Point it is 
still narrower. Here, to quote again from the Coast Pilot (ibid.): 
‘Gt divides into three arms; the southernmost continues in a south- 
easterly direction 2 miles to Favorite Bay; the northernmost extends 
eastward for 5 miles to Mitchell Bay; the middle arm, also extending 
eastward, leads among the islands.’”’ Since the middle arm lacks an 
English name, we shall refer to it by its Tlingit designation, tuk‘qa 
[t’uk‘ gm?], which our informants translated as “Inside the Baby 
Pouch,” [possibly ‘‘cradle bay”?]. It comprises a series of shallow 
lagoons, most of which go dry at low water, but which connect with 
Mitchell Bay and Favorite Bay. 

Between Turn Point and Angoon is Village Rock, yax-h-hac (per- 
haps yax-h-hdc “aboard it drifts’?), and half a mile above this is 
Rose Rock. Here the tidal currents rush past at 5 to 8 knots, making 
creat swirls and eddies. Rose Rock is a gathering place for cormorants, 
gulls, and other sea birds, except when covered at high water. It 
marks the central point toward which converge the waters from the 
three arms of the Inlet. 

“Kootznahoo Inlet is called i.kten and was claimed by the Decitan 
people.” Our informants, however, applied this name (iLen) specifi- 
cally to Steamer Passage (see below), and we failed to learn any name 
for the Inlet as a whole. A number of oratorical expressions that are 
used by the Decitan at potlatches refer to places on the Inlet. In the 
following discussion we shall treat each of the three arms of the Inlet 
in turn, before describing Angoon. We begin with the northern arm 
which affords the main entrance to Mitchell and Kanalku Bays. The 
lowest part of this arm is known as Stillwater Anchorage, which ex- 
tends about 1% miles from Turn Point to Pillsbury Point, and is 
bounded on the south by Channel Point Island. 


TURN POINT 


Turn Point lies directly across the Inlet from Angoon. Although 
there are always eddies even at slack water, the natives row across 
apparently without great concern. At Turn Point there are a few 
cabins belonging to Decitan and Wuckitan men and remains of 
formerly extensive gardens. The point is called yaxt‘a duwudA (?) 
“the current hits the point on both sides” (?). This is supposed to 
have been the first place settled by the Decitan after they had moved 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 39 


from Killisnoo Harbor on Chatham Strait below Angoon. Since 
there was so much tidal current here, they later moved from Turn 
Point about 700 yards northeast into Stillwater Anchorage. Although 
we were told that stone ‘‘axes’” (splitting adzes) and small bone 
labrets had been found in gardens at Turn Point, we saw only scanty 
traces of midden, but may have failed to discover the most promising 
area for archeological work. 


STILLWATER ANCHORAGE 


The Decitan who moved from Turn Point founded qrxatudn 
(qexetudn, qrxitudn, or qrxitudn), translated by an informant as 
“Log Jam Village.” (Itis possibly guxet‘u-’an, ‘Inside-the-mouth-of- 
the-bay Village.”) This is on the northwest shore of Stillwater 
Anchorage, just north of a small stream. From here, people later 
settled at Sullivan Point. According to one informant, it was hunters 
from Stillwater Anchorage who followed the beaver to Angoon 
Isthmus and so came to settle at Angoon, although we gather from 
his remarks that Decitan from Killisnoo Harbor and Sullivan Point 
also joined them in this move. According to another story, it was 
at Stillwater Anchorage that a man discovered his wife’s lover in a 
box, an incident which led to the separation of the Decitan and the 
Ganaxadi, (see p. 133). 

A white man, Charley Anderson, lives at the reported site of ‘Log 
Jam Village,” having purchased the land and cabin from an Indian. 
His garden, which runs along a shelf of high ground for about 30 feet 
northeast of his cabin, shows traces of shells in the ground, suggestive 
of only a small camp. Since he has never found any artifacts here, 
the native tradition of a village remains unverified. 

There are a number of houses, cabins, and smokehouses between 
Anderson’s place and Turn Point, and between his house and Pillsbury 
Point, most of them belonging to Decitan residents of Angoon. 


PILLSBURY POINT AND DAXATKANADA ISLAND 


Pillsbury Point is the tongue of land, running southwest, that 
marks the lower end of the narrow channel, Steamer Passage, which 
leads into Mitchell Bay at the eastern end of Kootznahoo Inlet. The 
rocky headland at the end of the point, yaicai nu, ‘‘Whale’s Head 
Fort,”’ and the small island, Daxatkanada, ‘‘Where the tide passes 
back and forth,” 300 yards southwest of the point, are reported to 
have been forts, and would in fact have guarded the entrance to 
Steamer Passage. It is impossible to go above them except with a 
favorable tide near slack water. Pillsbury Point belonged to the 
Wockitan and Daxatkanada Island to the Decitan, and both seem to 

460927—60——_4 


AO BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


have been abandoned after defeats. Since most of our archeological 
work was done at these two places, especially on the island, a detailed 
description of these sites will be postponed to a separate section. 
The stories about them will be found on pages 150-152. 


STEAMER PASSAGE 


The narrow channel, Steamer Passage, about 1% miles long and 200 
yards wide, leads into a larger body of water which eventually opens 
into Mitchell Bay. Savage tidal currents rush through the passage, 
giving it the name ’iyLen or iten, ‘Strong or Great Tidal Rapids.” 
The Coast Pilot reports velocities of 10 knots, but our informants 
spoke of 12 to 14, and “after going further, it gets more swift. Some- 
times you look through the water and the waves come together—it’s 
like you look through a tunnel. If you go down there in a row boat, 
you don’t come back no more. That’s the end of your life.”” Another 
said: ‘‘When going through the pass, you must sit still in the boat 
and not talk, or the tide will get excited and turn you over.” Near 
the upper end of the passage is a rock called ‘‘Raven’s Halibut,” yet 
teati. “It is like the picture of the halibut, but the tail has now 
fallen off.”’ When coming down, it was customary to look at this 
landmark, for if the tide had fallen enough for the rock to go dry, it 
was too dangerous to attempt the passage. If safe to go, one should 
say “thank you” to the Halibut Rock, and then address the current: 
“(This is?] your own canoe—stretch your feet straight out!’ (that is, 
“Don’t raise tide rips!””). A Decitan woman said that when women 
of her sib were going through the passage they would talk to the 
“fiohting water,” “because it’s our water. We tell it we are Crow 
women.” During potlatches given by the Decitan at Angoon, it is 
customary to send out a junior (a nephew or grandson of the host) to 
‘spect the Halibut Rock.” He will report that ‘the tide is beginning 
to run pretty swift,’’ which means that the guests are not supposed to 
leave before morning. 

When we were taken through Steamer Passage by the Kahklens, 
they were very careful to choose the correct stage of the tide and 
were also much concerned with the behavior of our small skiff. On 
our way back we arrived too early at the upper end of the passage 
and had to wait for about an hour, until the sound of the roaring water 
below us had subsided enough to indicate that we could proceed. 

We were told that once women of the Raven and Eagle moieties 
had a canoe race up the passage. They went up side by side with 
the rising tide. No one won; it was just for fun. 

Whereas the north shore of the passage is formed by Admiralty 
Island, the south shore is composed of a series of islands, unnamed on 
the chart, and beyond them is the maze of lagoons called the “Baby 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 41 


Pouch.” <A narrow opening, 500 yards above Pillsbury Point, which 
connects with these lagoons, is called ca-iy-Ak”, ‘“Where the female 
tide runs” (?) (cf. ’uk*‘ or ’uk*‘ “‘to boil”). This apparently is the 
place also referred to as ‘‘Ladies’ Pass.” 

The cove on the north shore just above the end of Steamer Passage 
is called nAndé-xa-thnk, “Its mouth faces (points) inside (back- 
wards),’’ because the mouth of the bay faces upstream or northeast 
(ndnd). 

MITCHELL BAY 


Mitchell Bay is about 4% miles long, from North and South Points 
at its lower end to the falls at its eastern end where it connects with a 
“salt lake.’”’ Since this lake discharges the flow from Hasselborg 
Creek, the water at the head of the bay is always brackish. This 
creek, a camp near the head of the bay, and Mitchell Bay itself are 
called xtniyé (cf. xin “northwind,” and iyr “tidal current of’’). 
The area at the head of the bay and up the creek was mentioned many 
times by the natives as wonderful hunting country, formerly very 
rich in beaver. Even the Tsimshian are said to have come here to 
hunt black bear for blankets. (This statement probably refers only 
to one specific occasion, if indeed it is at all true.) Special wood for 
canoes was formerly obtained up the Inlet, presumably in Mitchell 
Bay. According to Goldschmidt and Haas (1946, pp. 113 f.), Mitchell 
Bay and the Hasselborg Creek area belonged to the Teq”edi, having 
been given to them by the Decitan. They also report that the former 
chief of the leading Teq”edi house (Bear House) objected when an 
’Anxakhitan man, whose Teq”edi father had a cabin near the head 
of the bay, took a Wuckitan man hunting with him in this area. 
Presumably no objection was made to the son’s hunting on his dead 
father’s land, but the Wuckitan man came from Juneau and could 
claim no relationship to the owners. 

Although we heard no reports of any sites in Mitchell Bay, we 
were told about a number of curiously shaped rocks, with which myths 
are connected. Our informants were unable to locate these for us on 
the chart, but implied that some were near the entrance to the Baby 
Pouch. Throughout Mitchell Bay there are a number of high rocky 
headlands, islands, and skerries which would naturally suggest fanciful 
interpretations. 

One island is said to have had a natural arch. Thisis called ““Raven’s 
Mooring,” yel-xanax-gwa, (literally, ‘Raven mouth-through 
blow-of’’). According to one version of the explanatory myth, old 
Raven and his wife were camping here. There were no rocks on the 
beach to which he could tie his canoe, only round boulders. He said: 
‘“‘Where are we going to tie our boat?” She got up and poked her 


42 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


finger through the rock and made a hole, so Raven tied his canoe to it. 
According to another informant, there is a high cliff here. ‘Raven 
came there with his wife. Maybe he had a power. His wife said: 
‘Maybe the boat is going to drift away.’ He took his line. There was 
a hole right through the rock. He tied his boat there. There was 
a little lake right on top of the rock where he tied his canoe. Salt 
water went back and forth over that little pool year after year. When 
a person cuts his hand he puts it in a wash basin and the blood gets 
mixed up with the water. Raven put his hand in there [after he had 
cut it by punching it through the rock?], and the blood is still there. 
Salt water goes over it year after year, but it never changes its color. 
I don’t know how many times I come there and I looked at it, but it 
never go away yet.” 

Another high rock is ‘““Raven’s Slave,” yet guxu. It was said by 
one informant to be the conspicuous high rock near the Teq*edi camp 
at the eastern end of the bay, but others insisted that this rock was the 
‘Adolescent Girl’ (see below). 

A group of rocks are said to be three brothers, a bear, and a dog 
that turned to stone when an adolescent girl looked at them. Then 
she too turned to stone. The three brothers are called nasginax qa, 
“three men.’? As one informant explained: “They were walking 
across there. When a girl comes to woman, and it comes to be her 
monthly, they put a blanket or whatever it is over her, so she won’t 
look out. She peeked out and the men turned to stone. She looked 
behind and there was a bear, and he turned to stone, and the stone is 
there yet. It doesn’t really look like a bear, but it looks something 
like a bear—like a face.’? Another informant said: ‘‘A white rock is 
a woman, a wetedi [menstruant]. She shouldn’t go outside, but she 
did. ‘The water went down and she looked at the bear and it turned 
to stone. Another rock is the dog, ket. The high tide came and 
they all turned to stone. When you see those rocks, you must say: 
gunaltecic ’axsuting [‘Thank you, my supernatural helper’?].” 

It is evident that we are dealing here with the concluding incident 
of the widely known Tlingit story of lqgayaék”. According to versions 
collected by Swanton (1909, Tale 31, pp. 105 f.) he was the youngest 
of three brothers who, with their sister, were born of a woman by a 
dog father. The little dog in the story is also one of the litter that 
did not change into human form. The brothers and their dog traveled 
all over, killing or subduing monsters of various sorts. They were 
coming down the Stikine River, when the sister, who was menstruat- 
ing, violated the taboo and looked at them, because she heard her 
mother cry out that they were about to drown. Whereupon the three 
brothers, the dog, the mother, and the girl all turned to stone. (‘There 
is no mention of the bear in this version). Swanton’s informant ex- 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 43 


plained that passers-by formerly put pieces of their clothing into 
cracks in the rocks and prayed to the stones for long life. It is interest- 
ing that the Angoon people should have transferred the scene of this 
story from the Stikine River to Mitchell Bay. 

Most of our informants agreed that the ‘‘menstruant” was the high 
rocky stack on the narrow point just east of the Teq”edi man’s camp 
on the north side of Mitchell Bay, about 1,200 yards below the falls 
from Salt Lake. The other characters are presumably rocks on this 
point, but could not be identified. A wooden cross was recently set 
up on the end of the point to commemorate the drowning here a few 
years ago of a woman and her adopted daughter. We camped at this 
place with the Kahklens, while on a fishing trip to the falls. 

The falls from Salt Lake are yel fyi, ‘““Raven’s Tidal Current.” It 
is possible to enter or leave the lake only at extreme high tide when the 
falls are covered. It was here, according to one version of the story 
of Daxatkanada (see p. 151), that a war party from Wrangell was 
drowned. We were told that there was a hole in the rocks below the 
falls, apparently of mysterious origin and deeper than a man can 
reach with his arm. When a now middle-aged informant was a small 
boy, a huge fish trap was fastened to a pole set into this hole. Cohoe 
and sockeye salmon attempting to jump up the falls would tumble 
back into the trap. We did not hear of this hole until after our visit 
to the falls, and did not notice it. 

Our trip to Mitchell Bay was too brief to permit of much explora- 
tion, but we were able to land on the point between South Point and 
the entrance to Davis Creek that leads to Kanalku Bay. The point 
is a high, narrow tongue of rock, shaped like a steamboat. It is 
unnamed on the chart, and we were unable to learn the native name. 
There is, however, a rock shelter about 40 feet long under the cliff on 
the northwest side of the point. Here we found traces of recent camp 
fires, and an older midden deposit into which we dug for 12 inches 
without reaching the bottom. Thereare no cultural deposits on top 
of the cliff. 


KANALKU BAY 


Opening south of Mitchell Bay is Davis Creek, a tidal channel some 
2 miles long and 250 yards wide, at the southern end of which is 
Kanalku Bay, qatx or qatx (probably q*¥Au “pot,” and -x or -x 
“inside,”’ an apt term for the bay). The English name is evidently 
derived from the title of the chief of Tuqk”a hit, a Decitan house. 
The bay is about 3 miles long (east-west) and one-half to three- 
fourths of a mile wide. Passage Island nearly blocks the outer end 
of Davis Creek, and Stone Island the entrance into Kanalku Bay. 
A chief of the Decitan Steel House used to live on Stone Island. 


44 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


Dots and circles were recently painted on the island as aids to naviga- 
tion, for at one time coal was mined on the south side of the bay. 
There are a number of camp sites belonging to Teq”edi men on the 
north side of the bay, just inside the entrance. A woman who lived 
there as a child said that she used to get clay nearby for toy dishes. 
We were not able to visit the bay. 


BABy POUCH 


If we return to Angoon by the route described by one of our in- 
formants, we should come down the middle arm, a system of lagoons 
called the Baby Pouch, and enter the lower Inlet between Channel 
and Sullivan Points. Travel by this route is possible only at high 
water. The islands are reported as good hunting places for deer. 
The opening at the lower end of the Baby Pouch, which connects 
with the channel south of Channel Point Island, is called xusiysx, 
which our informant translated as ‘Crabapple Tide.” (However, 
x4x is “crabapple,” and xt is “club’’.) This same opening, or the 
narrowest part of it, is also called iyfk, ‘“‘Place inside the tidal cur- 
rent” (?). 

CHANNEL POINT 


This point, about three-quarters of a mile east of Angoon, is on the 
lower end of an island which divides the middle channel from Still- 
water Anchorage. Daxatkanada lies off the upper end of the island. 
On the southernmost part of Channel Point there are still a few 
dilapidated smokehouses and cabins built by Decitan and Teq*edi 
men, and remains of gardens can be traced from here through the 
bushes and woods to the top of the 60-foot-high headland which forms 
the north side of the point, a distance of about 175 yards. A middle- 
aged informant said that these gardens were under cultivation when 
he was a boy. However, a stump with some 70-odd rings stands in 
the middle of one plot and the trunk lies across the garden, which 
suggest that this part of the area was abandoned much longer ago. 
The point is called L’ux*‘~’ani, ‘‘Cohoe Salmon Village,’ because it 
was always possible to catch cohoes on each side of the point. In the 
woods near the headland there is a grave enclosed by a wooden fence 
made of banister-type railing. It is said to be the grave of an old 
blind Decitan man who was burned to death when two malicious 
women set fire to his cabin. The rocky headland was considered his 
tombstone. A pole with a United States flag is said to have been 
planted at the grave, but no trace of thisnowremains. Test pits made 
in various parts of the gardens revealed only scanty midden deposits, 
not over 12 inches in depth. We found no articles of native work- 
manship, although we were told that stone ‘‘axes” had been found 
near the south end of the point. There are a number of depressions, 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 45 


probably remains of root cellars, along the eastern edge of the gardens, 
in one of which were fragments of china. This site does not appear 
to be very promising archeologically. 


SULLIVAN, POINT 


This point, about 1 mile southeast of Angoon, is on an island which 
forms the north shore of Favorite Bay, and the point marks the 
division between this bay and the middle arm of the Inlet. Here 
was the site of a village (catxiwustm-’an or ceq‘ewust¢i-’an?), 
reportedly occupied by the Decitan after they moved from Turn 
Point and before they settled at Angoon. The name applies specifi- 
cally to the westernmost part of the point. After the removal to 
Angoon, the name was changed to tak”anicu, “Winter Village,” 
although this is felt to designate more particularly the southeastern 
section of the point. A settlement near here or a portion of the site 
belonged to the ’Anxakhitan and was called daxcu-’an, ‘‘Village close 
to the backside.”” There are still a number of summer cabins and 
smokehouses along both sides of the point, belonging to men of 
different sibs, and some are still used by people from Angoon. Drink- 
ing water is obtained from a waterfall across the entrance to Favorite 
Bay, in a cove southeast of Garnes Point. At one time coal was mined 
at Sullivan Point. All of the flat behind the point was formerly 
cultivated, and we were told that a splitting adz had been found in a 
garden, on a layer of sand, under 3 feet of earth. Our test pits near 
the end of the point revealed rich black humus with shells, charcoal, 
and cracked rocks to depths of 19 to 26 inches. In one pit we found 
a stone saw (pl. 7, q), a fragment of slate blade, and a cut animal bone. 
This would appear to be a prehistoric site, though perhaps not a 
rich one. 

About half a mile northeast of Sullivan Point, there is a small rocky 
knoll at the northernmost point of the island. A dilapidated ware- 
house is on the beach below, and on the knoll are two collapsed smoke- 
houses and a square pit (remains of a root cellar?). This pit was dug 
to a depth of 4 feet throvgh shelly midden, but the cultural deposit is 
of very limited extent, and the midden itself seems to represent 
rubbish thrown into a previous pit. Other indistinct depressions on 
the forested top of the knoll also suggest similar cellars. At one 
place a 12-inch midden was exposed in the cut bank overlooking the 
beach. Although we investigated this area, we found no artifacts. 
On the flat which extends from the knoll towards the south for about 
300 or 400 yards, there are remains of old gardens, most of which are 
now overgrown with young trees. <A test pit in the most open part 
was dug through a 30-inch midden, but no specimens were found. We 
did not learn the name of this place, but the narrow opening north of 


46 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


the point which leads into a shallow lagoon behind the island is 
called antéyuq. We were told that large cockles could be obtained 
from the lagoon, but were warned that if we went to get them we 
should keep a boat close to us and have one member of the party 
watching the tide. This lagoon opens into the upper part of Favorite 
Bay. 

FAVORITE BAY 


The English name for this bay is derived from that of a vessel of the 
Northwest Trading Company that operated the station on Killinsnoo 
Island in the 1880’s. The native name is wank‘a g&, “‘Hdge-on Bay.” 
The head of the bay, mostly mud flats, is almost 3%; miles southeast of 
Angoon, and the entrance is a long narrow channel. An abandoned 
“Fishing Village,” marked on the charts on the southwest shore, is 
xicwan-’ani, translated as ‘‘Fisherman’s Town.” The bay was 
formerly a famous locality for herring. It was apparently at this 
settlement that many of the natives were staying when Angoon was 
destroyed in 1882. It was not described to us as an old site, and 
exploration of the midden exposed in the banks of a small stream at the 
village revealed only modern cultural remains. 

A Decitan man is buried on the little island off the north shore of 
Favorite Bay, near the upper entrance to the lagoon behind Sullivan 
Point Island, and another Decitan man has a cabin there (Gold- 
schmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 118). 


GARNES POINT 


Garnes Point is due west of Sullivan Point, and about 1 mile south- 
west of Angoon with which it is connected by road. Mr. Elmer 
Garnes and his wife, both white, have a house and garden here. The 
float for the Alaska Coastal Airways planes is in the cove below the 
point, and above the point is the anchorage used by the Angoon 
people for their motorboats. The point itself is called xanaxayeE, 
and on it we found scanty traces of midden, apparently modern. 
There are a number of houses on the shores of the cove above Garnes 
Point. The cove is called k‘atsMsak¥. We were told that there 
had once been a lineage house here, belonging to the Kagwantan sib. 
If this unverified statement were correct, it would mean that this 
Eagle sib was once an established part of the Angoon community. 
It was here, we were told, that the Indians held two white men pris- 
oners, an incident which played an important part in the destruction 
of Angoon. There are no indications of an old site in the area. 
Children used to find clay here for toy dishes. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 47 


ANGOON 


According to tradition, the site of Angoon was already occupied 
by the Ganaxadi, a Raven sib, when the ancestors of the Decitan 
followed a beaver across the isthmus and so discovered this desirable 
place. The oldest part of Angoon is apparently at the southern end 
of the present town, facing Chatham Strait, and this includes the 
school grounds and the point just beyond (see fig. 17, p. 179). It was 
here that the Ganaxadi had their houses; the newcomers, who must 
have included representatives of other sibs in addition to the Decitan, 
presumably settled farther north. Later, the Ganaxadi moved away 
from Angoon, surrendering tbeir rights to the Decitan. 

The original Raven House of the Ganaxadi may have been on the 
present school grounds. These were once a garden, but the area was 
leveled in 1929 when the school building and teacher’s house were 
built, so that any archeological remains would have been destroyed. 
In 1938, when ditches were dug around the playground behind the 
school, a number of wooden rods were found at a depth of 4 feet. 
These were described by our informants as 2 (or 4 ?) feet long, curved, 
pointed at both ends, and apparently treated with oil. None of the 
natives was able to guess their function. 

The Ganaxadi had a fort or fortified house on the rocky point just 
south of the school. This place is still called Ganaxca nuwu, ‘‘Ganax 
Women’s Fort.’ Excavation here is impossible because there are 
recent graves on the point and a house at its landward end. A midden 
which spills down the slope toward the school has a total depth of 38 
inches. When exploring this, we found a piece of wood, wrapped 
around with a copper band on which was stamped a design suggestive 
of an eye. This was found at a depth of 24 inches, at the bottom of 
the uppermost layer of the midden. It was impossible to determine 
whether this was an object of purely aboriginal manufacture. We also 
found a crude maul head (pl. 4, 6) at the edge of the garden on the 
point. 

There are probably other areas within the town limits which were 
occupied at an early period, such as the narrow isthmus and the shores 
of the coves on each side. It is here that the present sib houses are 
concentrated, reportedly on or near the sites of earlier buildings with 
the same names (pls. 1 and 2). Any archeological remains here 
have been obliterated; nothing can be seen on the surface, and excava- 
tion is impossible. Some of the early houses along the west shore may 
well have been built in part on piles over the beach. Of these, or of 
the refuse from them, we could expect to find little or nothing. We 
did find a broken splitting adz on the west beach, however; and on one 
beach a local resident found an ivory buckle carved like a sea otter, 


48 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


which he said had been used for tightening the chin strap of a wooden 
hat. 

In front of the sib houses on the west beach (pl. 1) can still be seen 
a canoe landing place, made by rolling aside some of the larger rocks 
to leave a clear lane up the beach. Here, near the high-tide line, 
there is a very large boulder, called simply the “stone,” t‘z, or 
“boulder,” xit, or referred to as the ‘‘Anchor for Angoon.’’ On this 
boulder slaves were killed at the old potlatches. Some faint carvings 
on the boulder represent faces, allegedly of slaves; other carvings are 
arabic numerals. These numbers are obviously the most recent 
carvings, while other designs are probably older, since they are too 
worn to be deciphered. Some are said to have been made by visiting 
Tsimshian Indians when a now elderly informant was a small boy, 
and these are probably intermediate in age. The rock is reported to 
have been shifted from its original position because teams of two or 
three men from rival sibs used to vie with each other in trying to 
push it around. The carvings are all but worn off because children 
are said to climb over the rock. 

The ridge south of the isthmus has been cleared of timber, and 
while there is rich black humus on top, suggestive of former occupation, 
we found no identifiable cultural remains. Since there are a number 
of graves along the crest of the ridge facing Chatham Strait, we 
dared not undertake any extensive digging. Other modern graves 
are behind the houses on both sides of the walk across the isthmus, 
which again prevents digging in this area. 

We were told that there used to be a fort at Danger Point, at the 
entrance to Kootznahoo Inlet. This was called xayfda nuwu, 
“Fort of the lower end of the point.”’ There was another, called 
téak nuwu, ‘“Eagle’s Fort,” or téaknuku, “Eagle’s Small Fort,” 
at Graveyard Point, about 900 yards northwest of Angoon, where 
the modern cemetery is located. We did not visit either site. 


CHATHAM STRAIT BETWEEN ANGOON AND KILLISNOO 


Kenasnow Rocks, which lie off Angoon, are called ltxédn, a name 
which is said to refer to a small rock or island. (This is possibly 
hit xatz, ‘—?- island-of ”?) On the point directly opposite these 
rocks about one-half mile south of Angoon isthmus, there are several 
pictographs in red paint. Two of these paintings, about 10 feet above 
rocks about % mile south of Angoon isthmus, there are several picto- 
graphs in red paint. Two of these paintings, about 10 feet above 
the high-water mark, are clear enough to trace (fig. 7, a, 6). The 
most distinct and probably the most recent picture represents a three- 
masted sailing ship. To the right of it is a mask or animal face, and 
there are traces of what appear to be similar faces to the left and above. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 49 


According to one tradition, these paintings were made by T’simshians 
in human blood. The point is called ‘Magpie Point,” tsegeni 
qago (probably tsegeni xaku, ‘“Magpie’s Little Point’). We were 
not able to learn anything further about the pictographs because the 
point is associated with the recent drowning of a man who was said 
to have been warned by a soothsayer not to pass the point in his boat. 
Evidently there is felt to be something unlucky about the spot. 

On the south side of the point just below this, there is a vertical 
crevice or chimney in the rock, in which a shaman was buried. This 
place is called yekk hidi, “Small Spirit’s House,” or yek k‘a hrdi. 
When we visited the grave, we found that it had been rifled. Ap- 
parently the body had been laid on planks (or in a box), propped on 
rocks and timbers crammed in the cleft. The people still avoid this 
place and do not cut firewood or pick berries in the vicinity. An 
elderly man told us that one could talk to the spirit (ghost, shaman’s 
familiar ?), and it would answer; then one must say “thank you.” 

We were told that south of the grave, somewhere in the bight 
between Kenasnow Rocks and Killisnoo Island, there is a summer 
cabin owned by an ’Anxakhitan man. Here, or just to the south, 
was a former camp called k‘et‘mtci yadi, ‘‘Child of —?-’’ (see the name 
for Killisnoo Harbor Village). Teq*edi from Hanus Bay in Peril 
Strait are supposed to have killed a family here in historic times. 

White rocks on the point opposite Killisnoo Island are called 
tcaL xuxgo (probably tcan xoxu, “Halibut Meat’). Raven is said 
to have cooked a halibut here and the rocks represent the remains of 
his meal. This place is also called yet q*aui, ‘Raven’s Cooking 
Pot.” 

KILLISNOO 


A number of sites are reported in Killisnoo Harbor. It can be 
reached by a road from Angoon, about 3 miles north. Kullisnoo 
was the settlement on the island of that name which grew up about 
the stations established by the Northwest Trading Company in 1878. 
It was all but destroyed by fire in 1928, after which the last families 
moved back to Angoon. The name ‘“‘Killisnoo” is obviously the 
same as ‘‘Kenasnow,” and was probably the native name for a fort. 
Before the war a number of Japanese men lived on the Admiralty 
Island shore of the harbor, which is also referred to by the natives 
as ‘‘Killisnoo,” but these have all died or failed to return since their 
wartime internment, except Mr. Sumato who is married to a native 
woman. One elderly white man lived alone on the island in 1950. 
There were no other residents of the area. 

At the Sumato home, midway between the north point of Killisnoo 
Harbor and the stream at the head of the bay, is the site of qadasax*- 
aytk (“Sand Island, inside of ?’’). There is a shell heap here, but 


50 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


excavation is impossible because the area is under intensive cultiva- 
tion. The owners told us that they had found a barbed harpoon 
point, a pestle or maul, and a stone mortar in their gardens. A chart, 
published by Beardslee in 1882, shows the “Prov. [Prob.?] Site for 
Fort,” and a trail across to the Inlet near Garnes Point. 

The channel between the north point of the harbor and Killisnoo 
Island is called wucqatitew’sit, freely translated as ‘Getting so fat 
it’s coming together’ (probably: wuc “together”, q‘u ‘4t”, h-try’ 
“to be greasy”, sit‘ ‘‘channel’’). This name was supposedly given 
by the crane who carried the shaman from Hood Bay to Kootznahoo 
Head (see p. 141), when it prophesied the establishment of the whaling 
station on Killisnoo Island. 

The stream at the head of the harbor drains a salt lake or lagoon 
called k‘atsAsak”, the same name as that given for the cove above 
Garnes Point in Kootznahoo Inlet. 

On Admiralty Island, south of this stream, and almost due east 
of the station on Killisnoo Island, is an open beach about 600 yards 
long, as measured on a straight line between the reefs that bound it. 
The southeastern end of this beach is of sand, and here is reported 
to have been the village of ketmtéiin [(possibly: k‘ét‘intci-’an, 
“Village where it continually lifts up’). The natives, who were 
unable to translate the name, said that it referred to the pounding 
surf, which prevented the people from sleeping, so that they eventually 
moved to Kootznahoo Inlet and Angoon. Representatives of several 
sibs lived here or in the vicinity; the Decitan, Teq*edi, Wuckitan, 
and Daqlawedi were specifically mentioned. A middle-aged woman 
said that her grandfather had told her that the last inhabitants of the 
village died of sickness, and that since there was no one left to burn 
the bodies, they were simply left in the houses. This was probably 
in the smallpox epidemic of 1836-39. One of the Angoon men who 
have cabins and gardens here is said to have found human bones at 
a depth of 4 feet, which suggests that they were in an abandoned 
house pit. The ridges of formerly extensive gardens can be seen 
along the whole beach; it is probably here that were raised the potatoes 
for which Killisnoo was famous in the last century and which were 
traded by the natives to other tribes. At the end of the gravel north 
of the sand beach is a fine stream of clear water, and there is supposed 
to have been another stream between the gravel and the sand beach. 
We visited the place, and sank test pits at various spots in the gardens 
along the cove, but found only scanty traces of midden. We probably 
failed to discover the best area for excavation. A small rectangular 
slate pebble with notched edge, obviously water-worn, was found 
just under the surface of the gravel floor of an abandoned shack. 
It may have been an amulet. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 51 


The rocky point south of the site, “Potato Point,” was once a fort, 
dasaktak nuwu or sakqadatsayr nu, and another settlement in the 
vicinity was called dasuqtag-’an or sakqadatsayr-’an. Although 
we were unable to check the locations of these places their names 
suggest a position behind Sand Island, which is called dasaxuq”, 
dasaxuk’, or tasinux. There were supposed to have been storehouses 
for potatoes on this island, but it was probably never inhabited. 
The smaller of the two Table Islands, north of Sand Island, may 
have been a fort, for it is called tSax%el nuku, “‘Crow’s Little Fort.” 


HOOD BAY 


Hood Bay is the first bay south of Killisnoo Island. All informants 
agreed that the South Arm belonged to the Daql’awedi, but Gold- 
schmidt and Haas (1946, p. 115) assign the North Arm to the Decitan. 
One Daq?’awedi man, however, explained to us that the North Arm 
had originally been Decitan, but that it was given to the Daq?’awedi 
by a Decitan chief at the funeral potlatch for the latter’s son, a 
DaqPawedi boy, who had been killed by a bear at the salmon stream, 
x4ya, at the head of North Arm. This story was not confirmed by 
other informants, and the details are certainly confused, for a man 
could never give a potlatch for his own son, although he might sur- 
render property to his son’s sib at a “Peace Ceremony” if he were 
held responsible for his son’s death. Just southwest of the mouth of 
this stream is said to have been an old settlement or camp. Apparently 
the name for the stream is applied to all of the North Arm. 

Hood Bay Cannery, which was purchased by the Angoon Com- 
munity Association, is on the north shore of the bay, just inside the 
entrance to North Arm. On the small point just above it was the 
site of a former village called tantcusxex or tandjusxiq, which was 
roughly translated as ‘‘Where the people can’t sleep because the 
jumping fish make so much noise.’ People were living here when a 
now middle-aged man was a boy. No trace of the settlement could 
be found in 1949 when we visited the cannery, but in 1950 when land 
was being cleared to build more cabins for the cannery workers, 
some stone objects (mortars ?) were found here. If the people ever 
move from Angoon to Hood Bay, as many advocate, there will be 
extensive building in this area, and additional artifacts may be found. 

There are a number of dilapidated buildings along the north shore 
of Hood Bay between the cannery and Cabin Point to the west. 
On the point are cabins belonging to a deceased white man and to a 
former Daq!awedi chief. Still farther down toward the mouth of 
the bay, the natives used to obtain marble at a place called nixkago 
(probably: nexk‘axa), ‘‘White Rock Point.” This is on the north 
shore, opposite House Point. The rock was used to make dolls, and 


52 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


also for polishing carvings in wood and bone, according to our 
informant. 

The South Arm of Hood Bay is called tsiq*A, as is the salmon 
stream which enters its southern shore near the head. <A former 
Daq!’awedi camp was reported at the rocky point just west of the 
stream. A former chief of that sib had a cabin here, but it was 
burned after his death in 1948 by careless white campers. The 
fishing camp is associated with the Hood Bay shaman (see p. 140) 
for it was here that he first obtained his power. There was a logging 
camp here in 1949, which caused distress to the Angoon people, 
because they felt that it was cutting timber which belonged to them. 

The group that formerly lived in Hood Bay were called the Tsa- 
g’edi, but whether they were simply a branch of the Daq!’awedi 
(Garfield, 1947, p. 447) or the original inhabitants, is not clear. In 
any case, they, or a group descended from them, moved to Saginaw 
Bay in Kake territory, where they now live, and they no longer have 
any claim to Hood Bay. 

From Hood Bay Cannery a high mountain, evidently a volcanic 
neck, is visible above the end of South Arm. It is called ““Box Moun- 
tain” from its shape. Like many peaks in the Angoon area, this is 
supposed to be one of the mountains where people took refuge during 
the Flood. The natives told us that there is a rope coiled up around 
the top of the peak, by means of which the people moored their raft 
or canoe, and that it is now so old that if touched it turns to ashes. 
One of the white men at the cannery reported that there is supposed 
to be a pool of water on top of the mountain that will rejuvenate 
gray hair because it is hair oil that was lost by an old woman who 
climbed the mountain. (Gray hair is a theme much discussed by 
the natives, who lament that people now turn gray because they 
don’t take care of themselves at puberty, as the old people did whose 
hair never turned gray.) The same mountain is visible from Mole 
Harbor on the east coast of Admiralty Island. Mr. Hasselborg, 
who lived at Mole Harbor, told us that the Taku Indians of that area 
believed that if you ‘‘put your finger on” (point at) the mountain, 
it would rain immediately, even though the sky were clear. What 
may be the same mountain was called by an Angoon informant as 
‘Hood Bay Old Woman,” tsaq’a canuk”, because an old woman 
turned to stone on top of it during the Flood. She was a Daq?’awedi 
woman, and that is why that sib owns Hood Bay. If you point a 
finger at her, our informant added, she gets mad and makes it rain. 

Petroglyphs were reported in Hood Bay, but the localities were 
not specified and we did not see any. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 53 


HOOD BAY FORT 


The only archeological site of interest in Hood Bay was at first 
not mentioned by the natives. This is on a small rocky promentory 
on the south side of the bay, opposite Cabin Point. We discovered 
it from the motorboat, because the former clearing on top, now over- 
grown with bushes, is visible from the water. Later we learned that 
it was called Kix” nuwu, ‘‘Marten’s Fort.” It is said to have been 
built by the Daql’awedi when they first came to Hood Bay. Our 
examination indicated that the site would probably repay excava- 
tion. The old trail to the top evidently started from the beach 
on the west side of the point. Here, just above the beach, we found 
some 30 inches of midden, consisting of humus, shells, and fire-cracked 
rocks. In the deepest layers were a piece of worked stone, the butt 
end of a bone tool or arrowhead, and a barbed harpoon head. The 
trail passes a rock shelter about halfway up the slope, under which 
is a midden about 24 inches deep. At the summit, where we made 
test pits in three places, the midden is 30 to 36 inches deep, and 
consists of layers of humus, charcoal, clam and mussel shells, inter- 
spersed with fire-cracked rocks. A large barbed harpoon head 
(pl. 8, &) and a red shale labret (pl. 10, aa) were found at depths of 
18 and 30 inches. There are numerous ledges along the cliffs, some 
of which we explored in the vain hope of finding burials. The site 
seems well suited for defense, except that we could see no source of 
fresh water in the vicinity. 


CHAIK BAY 


This area is claimed by the Decitan, and is said to have been 
occupied by their ancestors before they came to Angoon (Goldschmidt 
and Haas, 1946, p. 115; Garfield, 1947, p. 489). Some elderly people 
now living at Angoon were born and brought up at the former village 
which was located on the north side of the bay, just inside Village 
Point (fig. 3). At that time there were houses here belonging to both 
Decitan and Daql’awedi men. A Daq!lawedi man even told me that 
his people claimed the bay, but this can only mean that they had some 
rights in the area. At present there are only a series of abandoned 
cabins and smokehouses between Village Point and a cove about 
1% miles to the east, evidently the remains of a summer settlement. 
The most interesting part of the area is arocky point called téaqianu, 
“Hagle-?-Fort,” (cf. teak ‘eagle’”’), about 500 yards east of Village 
Point. Here we were told that the natéunedi (probably the 
WaSshinedi) of Kake made war on the local inhabitants. Near the 
end of the promontory we found a midden about 20 feet wide and 
18 inches deep. Although we found no specimens here, we picked 


54 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


a 


boy high timbered 
ad point J 
Village SS 3m cabin pao ~y 
nl ESR S 
Ly be ey 2 VY uv? root_cellar 


Point 


shed ae aen) 
°So garden xQp smokehouse 


and cabin 


= 
i ES NS RAVEN DRUM ey? 


North Fort \ Vv 


— 


x x indicates test pits 
100 yards 


FicureE 3.—Site in Chaik Bay. 


up a barbed harpoon head on the beach below, which had evidently 
fallen from the midden above. On the beach between the fort and 
Village Point is a cabin, in the floor of which a deep pit (cellar, sweat 
bath?) had been dug through about 20 inches of midden deposit. 
Test pits outside the house encountered only scanty and superficial 
evidence of former occupation. A Decitan man is said to have 
been buried north of Village Point (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, 
p. 115). 

On the flat east of the fort was the site of the former village called 
yel gawu, ‘“‘Raven’s Drum,” or yet gawku, ‘‘Raven’s Little Drum.” 
Here there are a number of cabins, smokehouses, root cellars, and 
remains of old gardens, scattered along the shore of the cove for a 
distance of about 500 yards. Part of the gardens are grown over 
by young spruce. About 30 feet back in the larger timber behind 
the clearing, a fallen tree, about 2 feet in diameter, had exposed 
traces of midden. This consisted of an 18-inch deposit of gravel, 
containing a few shells and fire-cracked rocks, which rested on beach 
sand. ‘This is perhaps the oldest part of the site, but does not seem 
to be important. Below the gravel floor of a smokehouse at the 
eastern end of the flat we found some animal bones and a few shells 
at a depth of 2 feet, but the gravelly soil outside was almost sterile. 

In the next cove to the east there was a camp used by the ’Anx- 
akhitan from Whitewater Bay for smoking fish. At present there 
are four houses standing on both sides of a small stream. ‘Test pits 
west of the brook uncovered only animal bones, fire-cracked rocks, 
and tin cans under the turf. A hole in the smokehouse east of the 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 55 


stream had been sunk through 2 feet of shelly midden, but our test 
pits outside the house failed to uncover a midden, The situation 
here is thus like that at the cabin north of the fort. Evidently these 
recent buildings were built on small middens (accumulations in 
abandoned houses or caches ?), perhaps because it was easier to dig 
pits or cellars through the shells than through the gravel of the 
flats. 

Still farther east, in the next cove, are two shacks marking the 
site of tci,ane, a settlement where the Daq}’awedi chief, tiak‘it‘, 
“War-away Killer Whale,” had his house. Later the Decitan had a 
summer camp here. The name of the settlement may, more correctly, 
be ci-xan1, ‘‘Where it fell down,” referring to the wooden figure of 
a killer whale on the roof of the house which was blown down by the 
wind (see p. 138). We did not have time to explore this area. 

Near the salmon stream at the head of the bay was a camp, tcayik, 
from which the English name of the bay is derived. Here there are 
said to be still visible a series of sharp stakes set across the mud 
flats at the mouth of the stream on which salmon attempting to 
ascend the stream would become impaled. 

A mountain south of Chaik Bay (elevation 3,400 feet as marked on 
the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Chart No. 8252) is called 
canagAts. This was also a Flood refuge mountain, and there is a 
rope at the summit, now reduced to ashes, according to the informant 
who claims to have seen it. 

Petroglyphs were also reported in Chaik Bay, but we did not see 
any and were unable to learn their location. 


WHITEWATER BAY 


This bay was claimed by the ’Anxakhttan, whose ancestors set- 
tled here before Angoon was founded (Goldschmidt and Haas, 
1946, p. 116; Garfield, 1947, pp. 441 f.). The site of the village, 
neLducgan, ‘‘Neltushkin,”’ is on a cove just inside the north point 
of the bay, and was inhabited when some of the now elderly people 
of Angoon were children. According to several of our informants, 
the original ‘‘Middle of the Village House,’’ from which the ’Anx 
akhitan derive their name, was built here, as was also ‘Log Jam 
House” of the same sib. <A former resident of the village mentioned 
a “Bear House” of the Teq*edi, as well as smaller unnamed houses. 
If the story of the origin of the ’Anxakhitan is to be believed (pp. 
135 f.), then “‘Steel House”’ of the Decitan must also have been here 
at one time, since the original ‘“‘Middle of the Village House” was 
built beside it. Garfield’s informants, however, laid the scene of this 
story in Angoon, although they reported that ti!’ hini, ““Dog Salmon 


460927—60——_5 


56 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


Stream,” at the head of Whitewater Bay, was the exclusive property 
of the ’Anxakhitan. This statement suggests that otber sibs en- 
joyed rights in the area. 

The former village is still marked by a few dilapidated houses, 
overgrown garden patches, and cache pits, and by what appear to be 
the pits of older houses (fig. 4). The site is on a narrow flat, less than 
500 yards long, with a steep hillside behind, which would have forced 
a concentration of occupation within a relatively small area. There 
is an excellent stream of water near the northwest end of the cove. 
On the rocky point beyond the stream are painted a red circle (or 
semicircle) with a dot in the center, and a red comma-shaped figure 
(fish?) (see fig. 7, c). 


. steep SU eee 
uw er ea 


forest 
oung SEnve 
ee 


S 
at pst cat 


; o¢> 
Ww i howsé pits. oe 


Os 


pea g 


/ 
A Ars 
| 
100 yards 


Figures indicate test pits 


Fiagursr 4.—Site of Neltushkin, Whitewater Bay. 


We dug two test pits in the old garden plots near the western end 
of the site. In the first, the top 18 to 20 inches consisted of humus, 
gravel, fire-cracked rocks, etc. Below this was a layer of crushed 
shells, 6 to 10 inches thick, which rested on a hearthy deposit, the 
total depth of the midden being 34 inches. The second hole revealed 
75 inches of alternating layers of shelly midden and thin lenses of 
beach sand. The upper 30 inches here seemed to correspond to the 
top 10 inches in the first pit. Interruptions of the strata indicated 
that a hole had once been dug from the 26- to the 48-inch level, and 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 57 


had subsequently been filled with more midden debris. The total 
depth of the deposit here suggests that it had accumulated in the 
pit of an old house; perhaps several other house pits were later dug 
at the same spot. 

We also sank holes in the bottoms of two modern cache pits near 
the eastern end of the site. The original bottoms of these caches 
were 64 to 68 inches below the present surface of the ground, and the 
cache pits had been dug through middens that extended to depths 
of 40 to 72 inches. These older deposits consisted of thin layers of 
shell, separated by thicker layers of sand. The cache pits themselves 
contained boulders, rotted wood, tin cans, fragments of iron, a faceted 
blue glass bead, and a broken cannonball. 

One has the impression that occupation of the site had been in- 
termittent, allowing for the accumulation of the sterile sand layers 
over the successive strata of refuse. The sand may have been washed 
down from the hillside, washed up by the sea, or possibly, in some 
cases, have been brought by the people as clean coverings for the 
floors of their houses. Only extensive trenching across the entire 
flat could determine the origin of the sand layers and the relationships 
between the various strata of the deposits. It is to be regretted that 
we found no objects of native manufacture here, for the site appears 
to be the oldest in the area, and is one that should be excavated. 

There are said to be smokehouses at or near the head of the bay, 
but we did not try to explore this area. A Decitan man told us of 
salmon-impaling stakes (probably across the mouth of the stream at 
the head of the bay), which are supposed to be quite old. He said 
that as a boy he pulled one up out of curiosity, but was warned by 
his elders not to ‘fool around with them,” because it would bring 
bad luck. He also said that Table Mountain, a 2,400-foot peak south 
of the bay, was another refuge place during the Flood. There are 
ropes of ashes on top, which he has touched, and piles of stone, which 
are the remains of walls to keep out the bears that attacked those 
who took refuge on the summit. On both occasions when he had 
“fooled around” on top of the mountain, it rained, and the old people 
knew that he had been naughty. 

“Head Island,” q‘acay1 xak” (this form of the name suggests a 
little point behind the island), is apparently the North Island of 
the charts. It has or had ‘faces on all the rocks.”” The mother 
of an ’Anxakhitan woman of Angoon used to live there and told her 
daughter about the pictures, but the latter was unable to find them. 
They were probably petroglyphs, for another informant mentioned 
some in Whitewater Bay. Again, we were unable to ascertain the 
exact location and did not see any. 


58 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


CLIFF WITH PAINTINGS 


About 4 miles south of Whitewater Bay and about one-fourth of a 
mile north of Eagle Island is a very conspicuous cliff, on which have 
been painted three red figures, covering a vertical distance of about 
10 feet, (fig. 7, d). They are so high above the nearest ledge that 
scaffolding must have been used to make them. One informant told 
us that they were made by a Tsimshian war party and were supposed 
to represent a canoe with paddlers. We saw nothing of that sort, 
however. The pictures consist of a 5-foot X (above), a circle with 
four rays almost as big, and (below) a wide horizontal stripe. There 
were no other paintings in the vicinity. In 1950, informants who 
saw the photographs of these pictures, taken in 1949, identified the 
place as téakqeLn, but told different stories about it. According to 
one man, people from Wrangell (L’medi, or Yenyedi, or some other 
group) were going south (toward home). They got to Gut Bay on 
Baranof Island and then came across Chatham Strait on a raft, land- 
ing here below Whitewater Bay. They had a shaman with them 
who used ‘‘mental telepathy”’ to communicate with another ‘‘doctor” 
at Hood Bay. The latter announced that there were people who 
needed food and tobacco and blankets. The young fellows did not 
believe him, but they went out in their canoes and found those people. 
The Wrangell natives put the pictures on the cliff in memory of this 
event. The paint was made of blood mixed with some kind of root. 
Another informant said that a Decitan shaman and another man had 
escaped from enemies at Sitka. They came to the beach, built a 
raft, and finally crossed Chatham Strait. The shaman sent a mes- 
sage to a shaman ‘over here” (Angoon?). The latter said that 
someone was calling for help and sent a canoe to rescue the two men, 
although the people were skeptical. This story evidently refers to 
the same incident. 

Somewhere in the vicinity is the source of the clay that the natives 
in 1890 used to dig up and burn to make red paint. This is obviously 
the type of paint used for pictographs. The material when dug out 
is said to have been a reddish-brown clay or claystone. 


WILSON COVE 


This shallow bay south of Whitewater Bay was also claimed by 
the ’Anxakhitan, who are said to have discovered it after they had 
settled at Whitewater Bay (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 116; 
Garfield, 1947, p. 442). There was no village here, only a camp near 
the creek on the north shore of the bay with smokehouses for drying 
salmon. The natives also made herring grease here. Wilson Cove 
is called kataq’, and the people who used to frequent it were called 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 59 


Kataq”edi, but they have all died off, and there is said to be only a 
clearing at the summer camp site. We did not visit Wilson Cove. 


SOUTH END OF ADMIRALTY ISLAND 
TYEE 


Quartz for fire-striking sets is said to have been formerly obtained 
from Point Gardner, the southernmost point of Admiralty Island, 
southeast of Tyee. Tyee is now only a cannery in Murder Cove. 
The latter name refers to the killing of two white men by natives, 
which resulted in the destruction of the Kake villages in 1869. One 
of our informants denied that there had ever been an old settlement 
at Tyee, unless it had been used by the Kake Indians. Goldschmidt 
and Haas (1946, p. 116) reported a former ’Anxakhitan campsite 
where the cannery is now located, giving it the name qatckahin, and 
located another camp in Surprise Harbor to the west. Garfield also 
records the ’Anxakhitan claim to Tyee, qutcxahin, “the stream 
across from qutcx (Security Harbor).’”’ This designation suggests 
occupation or use by the Kake, who live on Security Bay on the south 
side of Frederick Sound. Garfield’s informants reported that the 
common ancestors of the Decitan and ’Anxakhitan are supposed to 
have stayed for a time at Tyee, where they absorbed the Gicq*edi, 
‘Kelp People,” the original inhabitants, before they moved to Chaik 
Bay and Angoon (Garfield, 1947, pp. 4388, 442). We explored the 
area around the cannery but found no signs of an earlier occupation, 
but the reported camps or settlements may have been in some other 
part of the bay. 


HERRING AND CHAPIN BAYS 


Herring Bay has apparently been frequented in recent years by the 
people of Angoon, for Goldschmidt and Haas record claims to it by 
both the ’Anxakhitan and the Daq?awedi (Goldschmidt and Haas, 
1946, pp. 116 ff.). It is called takawux or takuwux. Chapin Bay, 
qatc, was used by both Angoon and Kake people. 


ELIZA HARBOR 


Garfield reports the tradition that Eliza Harbor was the first 
home on Admiralty Island of the ancestors of the Decitan and 
‘An akhitan and of the ancestors of the Daqi’awedi. It is called 
ganax or ganex (Garfield: gu.nx, ‘Still Water’’) (Garfield, 1947, pp. 
438, 447). One of our informants said that it had originally been 
owned by the Tsag*edi (see Hood Bay), but was given to the Daq?- 
awedi when the Tsag*edi moved to Saginaw Bay. In any case, it is 
now considered as Daqlawedi territory (cf. Goldschmidt and Haas, 
1946, p. 117). The original settlement of this sib was described as 


60 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


having been at Loon Point or at Deepwater Point, xak‘a-’an, ‘Town 
on the point.’”” They also had a camp on Liesnoi Island, called 
tixate. We explored the area on the island which had been indi- 
cated as the site of the camp, and also inspected from the motorboat 
the shores between Loon and Deepwater Points, but were unable to 
land at the latter. However, none of these places seemed suitable for 
habitation, and we were unable to confirm the tradition. 


PYBUS BAY 


This was said to have been the home of little dwarfs, called tsinxn, 
who were helpful to men although they would never show their faces. 
Although tiny, they had such heavy bodies that no one could lift 
them. Pybus Bay belonged to the people of Kake, not to Angoon. 
The sib that lived here were the Washinedi, and the local branch were 
called da’utuwaxiq"an, ‘‘People of the built-up shelter,” because their 
village was fortified, not by a palisade (nu), but by a wall of horizon- 
tally laid logs. This was felt by our Angoon informants to be only a 
temporary makeshift, although I suspect it to have been the ordinary 
type of fort used by the Kake people. In pre-Russian times this 
group became involved in a war or feud, but we did not learn the 
story. 

CHICHAGOF ISLAND 


Goldschmidt and Haas are probably in error when they report that 
False Bay, Freshwater Bay, and Tenakee Inlet on the east shore of 
Chichagof Island were originally claimed by the Angoon people but 
that they were later taken over by the Wuckitan, probably from Auke 
Village near Juneau (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 112). Rather, 
our informants said that this territory belonged to an independent 
division of the Wuckitan, the Freshwater Bay branch, and that it was 
the latter who inherited rights at Angoon when the Kootznahoo 
branch of this sib became extinct. 


FRESHWATER BAY 


There seems to have been a former village 1 mile east of the sockeye 
stream in Freshwater Bay. When a now elderly man was a small 
boy there were two Wuckitan lineage houses here, and he believes 
that the foundations are still visible. Freshwater Bay is called 
asingk or asdénke. 

TENAKEE INLET 


The Decitan apparently at one time owned Tenakee Inlet, but 
ceded it to the Wuckitan in settlement of a murder (Goldschmidt and 
Haas, 1946, p. 117). This story is probably implied in the remarks of 
one of our informants who reported that pictures on the rocks near 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 61 


the settlement of Tenakee marked the scene of a battle where the 
Wvuckitan were attacked. Those defeated (not specified) were de- 
capitated, and their blood ran down over the rocks. Tenakee is 
called tenags, translated as ‘“‘Bay on the other side.” 

At the head of the bay there is a very narrow neck of land dividing 
the bay from the head of Port Frederick on the north shore of Chicha- 
gof Island. The latter is in the territory of the Hoonah tribe. 
Beardslee reports that there was a portage here, 150 steps long and 
only 15 feet high at high water (Beardslee, 1882, p. 92). Swanton 
cites the tradition that a canal had been planned to enable boats to 
reach Hoonah more easily: 

On their way to us the first killer whales came into a bay called Kots!é’u!, after 
Ts!éu!, the first man who came to that bay. They encamped at its head and the 
day after began digging into the cliff. The land there is not very high, so they 
were soon through, laid skids down, and carried their canoes across. Some people 
watched them. The killer whales always used to cross at the place where they 
laid down these skids, and now people cross there. It is called Killer whale 
crossing place (Kitgtni), but is now overgrown with trees and underbrush. 
[Swanton, 1909, p. 27.] 

A 4,000-foot mountain south of Tenakee is visible from the extreme 
southern end of Angoon. It is called céq*1a, and is another peak on 
which people are supposed to have taken refuge during the Flood. 
It is said to have been formerly bigger, but a few years ago a piece 
fell off. It is used by the Angoon people to predict the weather, for 
a little cloud that usually clings to the summit shows the direction 
of the wind in Chatham Strait, often before the wind is felt at Angoon. 
If some one at Tenakee points at the mountain, this will bring rain. 


BASKET BAY 


This little bay belongs to the branch of the Decitan known as 
the Qak*‘edi, who built their original “Basket (qak*‘) or Arch 
House” there. This place is now deserted, although a house and a 
couple of smokehouses were still occupied in 1902 (Garfield, 1947, 
p. 440). This is a spot that has captured the imaginations of the 
natives. We were given a number of descriptions of it but unfortu- 
nately did not obtain the most detailed accounts until after our visit, 
so that we missed some of the most interesting localities reported 
(fig. 5). 

The large salmon stream that drains Kook Lake (probably k‘tiq”,, 
“hole”’) enters the southwest corner of the head of the bay, after 
passing under a natural arch from which the bay derives its native 
name. Although we did not go above the arch, we were told that 
there is a deep hole some 500 yards farther upstream, on the north 
bank. At low tide people used to climb down into it by means of a 
notched ladder, carrying pitchy torches for light. There were seals 


62 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


to sealing hole x x indicates test pits 


: a North 
< 


2 steep forested slope 


situa arch ma, 
we 3 Ce 


x 


——— | 
100 yards rocky point 


FicurE 5.—Site at Basket Bay. 


and salmon in the hole which could be killed with clubs. The people 
used to fasten inflated seal stomachs to the catch and let them float 
out down the stream to be retrieved at the village at its mouth. This 
hole was a very dangerous place because it was flooded so rapidly by 
the incoming tide. Therefore, a man was stationed on the beach to 
watch the tide. As soon as it turned, he would call: ‘““Tide’s coming 
in!’ A man sitting on a house top would repeat the call, a man on 
top of the arch would relay it, and finally a man at the top of the hole 
would put his mouth close to the ground and shout: ‘Tide is coming 
in!’ Then everyone inside would drop everything and climb out fast, 
before the tide rushed into the hole. 

The original village at the mouth of the stream is supposed to have 
been destroyed by a pet beaver that became angry at his owner, the 
chief, and therefore turned the whole place upside down (see p. 137). 
The numerous pits and cracks in the rocks at the head of the bay are 
supposed to be connected in some way with the destruction of the 
village. Our friends warned us against falling into these. 

We explored the flat at the head of the bay, just north of the stream. 
While there is room here for a small settlement between the beach 
and the steep hillside, our test pits uncovered nothing more than a 
few animal bones and shells in the gravel to a depth of 8 inches in 
one spot, and signs of a recent camp with glass and china at another. 
In a crack in the cliff at the north end of the beach is a little pile of 
mussel shells, washed up by the sea, that has the appearance of a 
midden. Since the head of the bay is well sheltered from storms, it 
is unlikely that these shells were torn from mussel beds. ‘They may 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 63 


possibly be all that is left of the refuse thrown out by early inhabitants 
onto the beach. Or, there may once have been a midden on the flat, 
now washed away by the sea, of which these shells are the only trace. 
While we could discover no evidence of a relative subsidence of the 
land, this may have occurred, and the legend of the destruction of the 
village may have some foundation. 

We visited the arch or natural bridge over the stream, but not 
knowing that there was the hole above it, failed to find the latter. 
We also explored the shore toward the smaller stream which enters 
the northwest corner of the bay, but found no other suitable place 
for a settlement. ‘This stream is called teas hini, ‘“Humpbacked 
Salmon’s Stream.” 

PENINSULA POINT 


This point, which is almost directly west of Angoon, is called 
laqh a. The bay north of it is called nandu-qatana-taqtixa- 
-ghyAk”, meaning ‘‘northward—?—the point-small bay.” The bay 
to the south is called ’Ixdn-, etc. We were told that there is a cave 
on the east side of South Bay, visible from the water, in which a 
shaman is entombed. The body is said to be seated in a tall wooden 
box, with devilclubs in the folded arms, and the long hair is twisted 
up like the arms of a devilfish on top of the head and held in place 
with two long carved bone pins. The fingernails have grown so 
long after death that they have curved over to penetrate the palms. 
This is apparently the traditional description of a dead shaman, for 
our informant admitted that he had never visited the cave, having 
been warned by his uncle to avoid it. The shaman died so long ago 
that no one knows who he was. We were taken on a cruise into the 
bay, but were not able to land. A number of overhanging places in 
the cliffs are visible from the water, but we could not tell whether 
any of these was the cave in question. 


POINT HAYES 


Several forts were reported at or near Point Hayes. ‘Two were said 
to be on two islands off the point, both of which are surrounded by 
extensive reefs. The eastern and larger island was called tsax"el 
nuwu, “‘Crow’s Fort,” and was said to have belonged to the Wuckitan, 
but no further information about it was obtained. As far as we could 
tell from the boat in passing, the island is not very steep and is 
well wooded, so that it does not look like a defensible place or even 
like one that had been occupied. An open flat on the northwest 
point of the island, facing Point Hayes, may perhaps have been a 
camping place. 

The western and smaller island off Point Hayes is called xus nuwu, 
again translated as ‘‘Crabapple Fort” (see the channel at the lower 


64 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


end of the Baby Pounch in Kootznahoo Inlet, p. 44). This fort 
belonged to the Decitan, who “took a lot of punishment here.’”’ ‘The 
island appears promising as a site. It is precipitous, apparently 
scalable only from the eastern side. The top, which is divided into 
several knolls, has some spruce and also a number of berry patches 
which suggest old clearings. 

Another informant mentioned a Decitan fort, teatk‘a nu, “Halibut 
Place Fort,” or “Fort on the Halibut,’”’ which was “right inside Morris 
Reef,’’ that is, on one of the two islands or on Point Hayes itself. 
This fort was raided by the Kiksadi from Sitka long ago, before 
Angoon was founded. 

We were able to land only on the eastern side of Point Hayes, north 
of the eastern island, at a flat with a small stream. The bank, about 
3 feet high, has been cut by wave action. As exposed, it consists of 
round beach pebbles and a little dark humus, in the upper few inches 
of which are traces of charcoal. An Indian with us said that this was 
the site of a modern trolling camp. We were unable to explore the 
land back of the beach, but there was nothing here to suggest an old 
or any extensive site. 

At the end of Point Hayes, just opposite the smaller western island, 
and also just west of the point inside Sitkoh Bay, there are areas with 
young spruce which may be sites. We saw these from the boat but 
were unable to land. 

POINT CRAVEN 


One informant believed that there had once been a village at or near 
Point Craven, west of the mouth of Sitkoh Bay, but from the boat we 
could see nothing to suggest a site. 


SITKOH BAY 


Sitkoh Bay, which opens from Peril Strait on the south shore of 
Chichagof Island, was once claimed by the Ganaxadi but was sur- 
rendered by them when they left Angoon and now belongs to the 
Decitan (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 118; Garfield, 1947, p. 441). 
Traditions concerning the area should be obtained from members of 
the Ganaxadi sib, since the Angoon Decitan do not profess much 
local knowledge. Although we met a Ganaxadi man who claimed 
‘Sitkoh Bay as the original home of his family, he was unwilling to 
tell us much. 

The bay is still an important area for the Angoon people, since a 
number of them work and fish for the New England Fish Company 
cannery at Chatham, halfway up the southwest side of the bay, and 
some also buy their winter supplies from the cannery store when prices 
are reduced at the end of the fishing season. The cannery is about 4 
miles above Point Craven. The cabins for the native workers are 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 65 


scattered between the cannery and a stream about 600 yards still 
farther up the bay. Around and behind these shacks are extensive 
clearings, which we did not examine, nor did any of our informants 
mention a site at this place. 

About three-fourths mile above the cannery is the site of the former 
Ganaxadi village, sitqo (possibly sitxo, ““Among the Glaciers’’). 
Our friends, the Reverend and Mrs. Cyrus Peck, took us to see the 
many petroglyphs at this site. The village was on a terraced knoll 
(fig. 6), just south of the mouth of Sitkoh River, a sockeye salmon 
stream which drains Sitkoh Lake some 4 miles inland. The knoll is 
about 120 yards long (NW-SE), about 60 yards wide, and about 70 
feet high at the highest point. The stream in general runs east, but 
just before reaching the site, turns north to flow close under the inland 
side of the knoll, and then turns sharply east again to enter the bay. 
We were unable to cross the stream, even at low tide, but it does not 
look as if there were a site on the opposite bank. 


S507 Sitkoh River 


; 3 
,» ie i 
J P Mouth of 


spring with .-~ pe ae 
) petroglyph Wan > 


_2 reported here eet i 


ree) 
ere ad ISLAND <9) ~< gee 
he a 4 fey . \ 7 


_ — ae qn 
at flats v\ 7 
thal 


Scale: 1000 feet 
Numbers 
indicate 
test pits 


FigureE 6.—Site near Chatham Cannery, Sitkoh Bay. 


66 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


The bedrock in this area is composed of limestone or marble, with 
some thin layers of dark shale or slate. The strata are tilted steeply 
with a NW-SE strike (1. e., parallel to the axis of Sitkoh Bay), and dip 
toward the northeast. At the base of the rocks which form the south- 
eastern edge of the knoll are carved a number of petroglyphs, some 
on the dip slope of the bedrock, some on the joint planes, and a few on 
fallen slabs (see fig. 8; pl. 11). A native who was with us at the site 
reported that there used to be a spring which bubbled out of the rocks 
along the shore between the site and the stream near the cannery. 
Below the spring was a deep pool, and on the rocks above was carved 
a face. We all searched for this, and found only a few brooks, but no 
petroglyphs near them. This same man also reported that there had 
been additional carvings on the flat surfaces of the bedrock opposite 
the middle of the site, but believed that they were now covered with 
beach gravel. We shoveled a little of this from the rocks on the beach, 
but found no more pictures. Since our informant had not seen the 
carvings since 1904, his memory may well have been inaccurate. 

Opposite the site is a small island, connected to the mainland at 
low tide. The same Indian commented on how the formerly deep 
channel between the village and the island had filled with silt since he 
had previously seen it. I believe that he is correct in part, but that a 
change in sea level is responsible, since there is evidence of a raised 
beach on the little island. The extensive tidal flats around the island 
and in the bight to the south and east are now covered with beds of 
mussels, but we saw no signs of clams, and no shells of any kind were 
found in our test pits at the site. 

The village is now covered by an almost impenetrable tangle of sal- 
monberry and thimbleberry bushes; there are also some elderberries, 
wild celery plants, and a few young spruce. We dug four test pits. 
The first was on top of the 40-foot-high knoll at the southeast end of 
the site, but this revealed only 10 inches of humus and gravel above 
the bedrock. The second, on the highest point of the ridge, near the 
southern end of the clearing, was dug through 4 to 6 inches of sterile 
humus. The third pit was near the northern end of the site, on the 
main ridge, here about 40 feet high. The spot was selected because it 
had a growth of nettles, often the sign of previous habitation. Here 
humus, some bits of charcoal, and gravel were found to a depth of 30 
inches, resting on sterile gravel, but there was nothing else to encourage 
excavation. 

The last pit was dug on the same ridge, about halfway between the 
highest knoll to the south and a clump of young spruce in the middle. 
The shelf is here about 55 feet high, is fairly level, and has a growth of 
nettles. A slight depression suggested that a house pit might have 
been located here. We excavated a hole about 3 by 2 feet to a depth of 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 67 


4 feet without encountering any clearly defined bottom to the deposit. 
Here were the following layers: 

Surface-18 inches: humus with some pebbles and a few fire-cracked rocks 

18-19 inches: charcoal 

19-22 inches: hard-packed, tan ashy layer (floor?) 

22-26 inches: humus with some charcoal 

26-28 inches: gray ashy silt (floor?) 

28-33 inches: wet greasy earth with charcoal. At 29 inches was a badly rotted 
deer (?) bone, and at the same level a fragment of what appeared to be a 
human bone (about the size of the humerus), so badly compressed and de- 
composed as to be hardly more than a stain. Near this, at the same level, 
were the remains of a human skull, the consistency of wet cardboard, and a 
number of very much worn teeth, suggesting a senile individual. The 
layers above the skull (at least the tan ashy layer at 19-22 inches) appeared 
to be undisturbed. The human bones were not charred; it was not a crema- 
tion. Wedo not know whether this was an intentional burial, an abandoned 
corpse, or a slave sacrifice (under a house post?). 

33-34 inches: gray earth 

34-38 inches: dark earth with considerable amounts of charcoal 

38-40 inches: gray earth 

40-48 inches (bottom of test pit): grayish-black earth, with a bone fragment 
at 41 inches. The bottom of the cultural deposit was not reached. 


I think it probable that the test hole was sunk in a former house pit, 
which would account for the depth of the deposit. The ashy layers 
appeared to be floor levels. There were no shelis, and the soil was in 
consequence quite acid, which would account for the condition of the 
bones encountered. The inhabited area of the site seems to have been 
quite limited in extent; the village must have been small. The deeply 
stratified deposit suggested long occupation, but unfortunately we 
found no artifact, so it is difficult to say whether further excavation 
would be rewarding. 

We also dug a test pit on the north end of the little island opposite 
the village site, but found only a thin layer of gravel and humus and 
a few scraps of shells which may have been dropped by gulls. The 
island is too low to have been a fort, and the steep slopes of the knoll 
at the village site could have been more easily defended. 


PERIL STRAIT 


Our information about sites in Peril Strait west and south of Sitkoh 
Bay is based upon hearsay, for we had no opportunity to explore 
them. ‘Territory ascribed to people of Angoon seems to run as far 
west as Poison Cove, although Angoon hunters used to continue 
through the Narrows to hunt sea otter in Kalinin Bay in Salisbury 
Sound, the western enlargement of Peril Strait. 

Peril Strait was claimed by the Teq”edi (Goldschmidt and Haas, 
1946, pp. 118 f.), but because of the close ties between the Angoon 
and Sitka branches of this sib, it is difficult to draw any definite line 


68 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


between the localities particularly claimed by the two divisions. Thus, 
Garfield reports that the Teq*”edi settlement, sometimes called 
Kutixa.n, ‘‘Carved-Stone Town,” at the foot of Mount Edgecumbe 
on the southern end of Kruzof Island, was frequented by sea mammal 
hunters from Peril Strait. The name of the town refers to the many 
petroglyphs of murrelets, bear tracks, etc., presumably all Teq*edi 
totemic crests, on the nearby rocks (Garfield, 1947, p. 446). Prob- 
ably most of the regular inhabitants were Sitka natives. 


TODD 


The main Teq*edi town in Peril Strait was on the north shore, at 
the present site of Todd Cannery. It was called q‘acd-t‘b-wahayty4, 
‘“‘Where the rock fell on someone’s head,” alluding to the story of the 
man who rolled a boulder down the cliff to kill his wife’s lover (Gar- 
field, 1947, p. 445). The stream here is called ‘Battle Creek,” 
dawitiu’l hini, because it was the scene of a fight between the supporters 
of the husband and the relatives of the murdered man (pp. 144 ff.). 
After the fight, the survivors separated, some going to Chilkat and 
others to Whitewater Bay and Kootznahoo Inlet, so that the town 
was deserted. 

Although we were given to understand that Todd was the site of 
a pre-Russian village, it is possible that Lindenberg Head, about a 
mile east of the cannery, was actually the fortified settlement estab- 
lished by the Indians who fled from Sitka in 1804 when the Russians 
retook that place. Although one of the chiefs who lived at the 
new fort in Peril Strait was certainly a K1ksadi, others may have been 
Teq’edi. We have been unable to identify the site of this fort (see 
pp. 147f.). However, a chart based on surveys in 1879 and 1880 indi- 
cates a stockaded village at Todd or Lindenberg Head, although there 
is no information as to whether it was still inhabited at that time 
(Beardslee, 1882). 


HANUS BAY 


The Todd people had a fish camp, katsx, on the outlet of Lake Eva, 
on the south side of Peril Strait. One middle-aged informant, the 
son of a Teq”edi man, said that he was born at a fishing town on the 
peninsula at the east side of Hanus Bay, between Point Moses and 
the stream from Lake Eva. This settlement was “large,” with a 
dozen houses, and may be the same place as the fish camp. 

The Teq*edi also had a fort on Dead Tree Island, the larger (?) 
of the two islands in Hanus Bay (Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, 
p. 119). There was once a canoe battle in the bay and native inform- 
ants told us that human bones had recently been found in the shallow 
water east of the outlet of Lake Eva. In Russian times, Teq*edi 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 69 


from the island in Hanus Bay are said to have killed a family living 
at a summer camp on the shore between Angoon and Killisnoo Harbor. 
It is not clear whether these two incidents are connected. 


BARANOF ISLAND SOUTH OF PERIL STRAIT 


Goldschmidt and Haas report that the Decitan claim Kelp Bay, 
and had a summer camp on Crow Island (Goldschmidt and Haas, 
1946, p. 120). Garfield was told that the eastern shore of Baranof 
Island from Peril Strait to Nelson Bay was used by all the Angoon 
Raven sibs, and was not the exclusive territory of any sib or house 
(Garfield, 1947, pp. 442 f.) There was a large camp on Pond Island 
in Kelp Bay, especially frequented by people from Whitewater Bay. 
The ’Anxakhitan had a hunting camp in Nelson Bay which was 
destroyed by a snowslide that killed all the men in the party. 

Redbluff Bay marked the southern limit of Angoon territory, for 
the area south of this was used by people from both Angoon and 
Kake.” The bay was called djigux. We were told that there was a 
fish camp here and also a place where greenstone for adzes could be 
obtained. Although an ’AnxXakhitan man claimed Redbluff Bay for 
his sib, he admitted that anyone could obtain as much greenstone as 
he wished from the mountainside above it. 

Hoggatt Bay, south of Redbluff Bay, was mentioned by one in- 
formant because her Wuckitan father made a stone salmon weir at 
the stream there. The stream is called watkasat‘n, like Thayer 
Creek north of Angoon. The Wuckitan man also had a fish trap at 
Gut Bay, 2 miles farther south. 

Gut Bay is of interest because here Raven left the print of his 
fishnet in the sloping rocks at the north side of the entrance. This 
place is called yet géwu, ‘‘Raven’s Web, or Net.” Our informant said 
that he had once taken some young men to the spot. They had always 
joked about it, not believing that there was anything there, but were 
convinced when they saw clearly the marks of the net pressed into 
the rocks. 

SUMMARY OF SIB TERRITORIES 


Territories or areas where the Angoon sibs had rights to fish, hunt, 
gather berries, or had built houses, may be summarized as follows: 


Decitan (Raven): 
From Fisheries Point to Kootznahoo Head, Admiralty Island 
Lower part of Kootznahoo Inlet through Steamer Passage 
Killisnoo Harbor 
North Arm of Hood Bay (later given to Daql’awedi) 
Chaik Bay 


12 Goldschmidt and Haas, 1946, p. 120. Emmons, in an unpublished manuscript, ascribed all of the 
coast to and including Patterson Bay to the Angoon people and reports that they also could hunt sea lions 
off the southernmost point of Baranof Island, 


70 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


Whitewater Bay ? 
Eliza Harbor (occupied by ancestors) 
Basket Bay, Chichagof Island (by Basket Bay lineage) 
Point Hayes fort 
Sitkoh Bay (received from Ganaxadi) 
’Anxakhitan (Raven): 
Sullivan Point, Kootznahoo Inlet 
Chaik Bay (summer campsite) 
Whitewater Bay 
Wilson Cove 
Tyee ? (by ancestors) 
Herring Bay 
Redbluff Bay, Baranof Island 
All Ravens used Baranof Island from Peril Strait to Nelson Bay. 
Wockitan (Eagle-Wolf) : 
Point Marsden to Fisheries Point, Admiralty Island 
Pillsbury Point, Kootznahoo Inlet 
Killisnoo Harbor 
False Bay to Tenakee Inlet, Chichagof Island 
Point Hayes fort 
Teq*edi (Eagle-Wolf) : 
Mitchell Bay, Kootznahoo Inlet 
Killisnoo Harbor 
Whitewater Bay (some house sites) 
Peril Strait west of Sitkoh Bay 
Daqlawedi (Eagle-Wolf): 
North Arm of Hood Bay (received from Decitan) 
Chaik Bay (some house sites) 
Herring Bay ? 
Eliza Harbor 

Although sibs held title to territories, this did not mean that only 
their members could utilize them. Actually anyone in the commu- 
nity could hunt or fish or gather food on them, provided he or she 
acknowledged the legal claims of the owners and could also cite his 
or her own relationship to one of the owners. The last was usually 
easy to do. 

Within the region surveyed, the most promising sites from an arche- 
ological point of view are the villages at Whitewater and Sitkoh Bays; 
the forts at Pillsbury Point and Daxatkanada Island in Kootznahoo 
Inlet, and Marten Fort in Hood Bay. Of course, other sites that 
were not visited may offer more to the archeologist than any of these, 
or some sites, visited but not thoroughly explored, may be of greater 
value than we now suppose. 


PETROGLYPHS AND PICTOGRAPHS 


Localities where rock carvings and paintings were seen or were 
reported may be summarized as follows: 

(1) At the mouth of Thayer Creek, technique not described; said 
to represent a moon and an eye. This report was made by a white 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 7A 


man, based on the statement of another white man, and since it was 
not confirmed by a native who had visited the place many times we 
may suspect it. 

(2) Stone Island in Kanalku Bay, Kootznahoo Inlet; circles and 
dots were painted recently on the rocks as an aid to navigation by 
white men prospecting for coal. 

(3) ‘Anchor for Angoon,” the large boulder on the west beach in 
front of the lineage houses, on which slaves were said to have been 
killed at potlatches. It bears badly worn petroglyphs, some repre- 
senting faces (eyes and mouth), made by or representing slaves (?); 
arabic numerals referring to a score in a basketball game; other inde- 
cipherable pictures said to have been made by visiting Tsimshian 
Indians over 50 years ago. All are so worn that one would suppose 
them all to be very old, although they were undoubtedly made at 
different times. They were too indistinct to be copied. 

(4) Pictographs on the face of a cliff about one-half of a mile south 
of Angoon Isthmus, at Magpie Point, said to have been made by 
the Tsimshian Indians in human blood. Two of the pictures were 
traced and will be described in greater detail below. 

(5) Petroglyphs at unspecified localities in Hood Bay, Chaik Bay, 
and Whitewater Bay. On Head Island in Whitewater Bay the 
rocks are said to have pictures of faces. These petroglyphs could be 
“read like totem poles,” and thus identified the sibs claiming the area. 

(6) Pictographs of a circle (or semicircle) with a dot in the center, 
and a comma-shaped figure (fish?), on a low rocky point just north 
of the village site in Whitewater Bay (fig. 7, c). 

(7) Pictographs on a conspicuous cliff 4 miles south of Whitewater 
Bay. According to one report these were made by a Tsimshian war 
party and are supposed to represent men in a canoe. Other infor- 
mants said that they had been made to commemorate the rescue of 
a party that had drifted across Chatham Strait on a raft; the shaman 
with the party was able to communicate their plight to a shaman at 
Hood Bay or Angoon (see p. 58). These pictures were photographed 
and sketched and will be described below. 

(8) Pictures near the cannery at Tenakee (technique unknown) 
are said to commemorate an attack on the Wuckitan inhabitants of 
the former village at Tenakee. 

(9) Many petroglyphs at the village site near Chatham in Sitkoh 
Bay. These were photographed and sketched and will be described 
in a later section. 

The petroglyphs in Tlingit territory have received more attention 
than the red pictographs, the rock carvings near Wrangell being 
especially well known. No thoroughly satisfactory explanation of 


460927—60—_6 


72 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


the reasons why paintings and carvings were made on the rocks have 
been obtained from the natives. Our informants, who probably did 
not themselves know the old traditions very well, indicated that rock 
pictures were made to commemorate such events as victory in war 
(Tenakee), transfer of territory or other wealth in settlement of a 
feud (Sitkoh Bay), important potlatches, especially ones involving slave 
sacrifice (‘‘Anchor for Angoon’’), and shamanistic exploits (near 
Whitewater Bay). Others ascribed the red paintings at this last 
site to Tsimshian war parties (in commemoration of victories?). The 
Chilkat also said that red pictographs near Klukwan were made to 
celebrate the slaying of enemies in battle. In both cases, it is inter- 
esting that the red color is supposed to have been derived from 
human blood. Still others said that the petroglyphs on the “Anchor 
for Angoon” were made by the Tlingit themselves and by visiting 
Tsimshian simply to pass idle hours. 

Keithahn has found that petroglyphs are almost invariably located 
below high-tide mark on beaches near the mouths of salmon streams, 
and believes that they were made for the purpose of attracting the 
salmon. The designs represent sib crests or supernatural beings 
(Salmon Boy, Raven, Killer Whale, or Sea Monster) (Keithahn, 1940, 
pp. 129 f., p. 182 note 4). Since such supernaturals are associated 
also with specific sibs (or with groups of allied sibs), the symbols 
representing them may also be sib crests. Thus, Emmons has de- 
scribed and illustrated the petroglyphs on the northwest point of 
Etolin Island. Animal figures predominate and all are totemic, 
representing the crests of the Stikine sibs that claim the area. Other 
figures are circles (interpreted as the Sun) and spirals (representative 
of the Woodworm), both of which are also sib crests. In addition, 
are faces, “coppers,’’ and rattles. Emmons also published petro- 
glyphs on Lisiansky Bay, Baranof Island, where the totemic crests 
are organized to illustrate the Raven myth of the theft of water. 
This area was claimed by the Raven Kisadi sib of Sitka. Although 
this last design was apparently treated with reverence by the natives, 
and was undoubtedly associated with cherished sib traditions, Emmons 
could secure no information about the reasons for making the petro- 
glyphs nor about their age. The natives simply said that the pic- 
tures had already been there in the days of their fathers’ fathers 
(Emmons, 1908 b). 

Our informants implied that petroglyphs and pictographs did 
consist of proprietory totemic designs, and so, indirectly if not di- 
rectly, would indicate the sib that had territorial claims to the areas 
where they were made. In a general sense, therefore, we may think 
of these rock pictures as graphic representations of sib prerogatives, 
analogous to the designs on decorated blankets, crest hats, carved 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 73 


posits, painted house fronts, etc. Any of these pictures or symbols 
may at one and the same time serve as illustration of the event, 
mythical or recent, through which the sib acquired the rights in ques- 
tion, and also, if referring to a supernatural encounter, serve as a 
magically efficacious token of the powers then obtained. That the 
interpretation of rock pictures by the natives is so offen vague, may 
perhaps be explained by the fact that the techniques of rock painting 
and carving are much cruder than those employed in ordinary wood 
painting and carving, so that the styles of the pictographs and petro- 
glyphs, while related to those of traditional Northwest Coast art, are 
yet different. 


PICTOGRAPHS AT MAGPIE POINT NEAR ANGOON 


These pictures are painted on the vertical face of a cliff which 
can be easily reached at low tide by walking over the beach from 
Angoon. Those in the lowest group are about 10 feet above high-tide 
level, but are accessible from a convenient ledge. The highest picture 
is 6 feet above these, and can only be reached by scrambling up to a 
narrow shelf above the lower group. The pictures are in dull red 
paint, evidently hematite mixed with some fatty substance. All are 
cracked and weathered, but two were clear enough to trace, even 
though the exact outlines had to be guessed in places (fig. 7, a, 6). 

The clearest and apparently most recent painting is that of a 
three-masted ship, with jib, 3 yards on each mast, and a high stern. 
Some of the rigging is shown, but not the sails. There may be a 
flagstaff at the stern, and several vertical lines suggest men stand- 
ing on the deck. The hull is outlined, not rendered in solid silhouette, 
The lines are clumsily drawn as if with the fingers or the frayed end 
of astick. This picture may commemorate ashipwreck which occurred 
many years ago somewhere south of Angoon, from which the natives 
obtained valuable articles. The widow of John Shuwika (cuwika), 
chief of the Wuckitan ‘‘Fort House” at Angoon, tried to tell Garfield 
about the wreck, and her daughter also mentioned it to us, but 
although it was evidently an important historical event, unfortunately 
neither of these ladies had sufficient command of English to tell the 
story, and no interpreters were available. A Russian steamer was 
lost off Whitewater Bay, and the American schooner Langley some- 
where in Chatham Strait (Morris, 1879, p. 56), and there were doubt- 
less other wrecks of which I have been unable to find any record. 
The picture may refer to one of these, or may possibly commemorate 
the first encounter with Europeans. Our informant, for example, 
was evidently familiar with the story of the meeting with La Pérouse 
in Lituya Bay in 1786. 

Just to the right of the ship is a picture which is less distinct and 


74 


BUREAU 


OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 


Bull. 172 


FIGURE 7, 


(For legend, see opposite page.) 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 1D 


may, therefore, be older. Three other designs, above and to the 
left of the ship were probably similar, although they are so nearly 
obliterated that we cannot be sure. The one which we were able 
to copy is a masklike face, seen full front. It has a wide mouth 
with prominent teeth, a flat broad nose, two eyes below but con- 
nected by a pair of flaring winglike appendages, possibly fins. The 
central arch over the nose is probably a dorsal fin. I believe that the 
killer whale is represented. We were unable to find anyone who 
could or would attempt to interpret these pictures. 


PICTOGRAPHS SOUTH OF WHITEWATER BAY 


The red paintings on the conspicuous cliff between Whitewater 
Bay and Eagle Island can be approached only by boat. They are 
easily seen from the water, since they cover a vertical distance of 
about 12 feet (fig. 7, d). The color is a dull red brown. Although 
we landed on the rocks below the pictures, we could not reach them, 
for the lowest was well above our heads and the vertical face of the 
cliff afforded no means of climbing up. The paintings must, therefore, 
have been made from a scaffold or from a rope lowered from above. 
Although we had been told the paintings represented men in a canoe, 
nothing of the kind could be seen in the vicinity. Instead, the upper- 
most figure is an X; below is a circle with four rays,” and below that 
a horizontal stripe. The two upper designs are about 5 feet in size, 
their arms and the stripe below them are at least 6 inches wide. 


PETROGLYPHS AT SITKCH BAY 


At least 10 petroglyphs were found carved on the rocks at the 
base of the knoll which forms the southeast end of the Ganaxadi 
village site in Sitkoh Bay (fig. 8 and pl. 11). A man of that sib 
who lives in Juneau said that his people had made the carvings 
many generations ago and that they were ‘their mark.” The least 
weathered and therefore presumably most recent design (fig. 8, No. 5; 
pl. 11, f) he recognized as a “copper.” According to Garfield, when the 
Ganaxadi left the Angoon area, surrendering their territorial claims 
to the Decitan, they carved this symbol on the rocks at Sitkoh Bay 
in token of the wealth they were giving (Garfield, 1947, p. 441). The 
tradition thus appears to be supported by archeological evidence, 


13 This may perhaps represent the sun, for it is not unlike 2 sun symbol published by Emmons, 1908 b, 
fig. 57. 


Figure 7.—Pictographs. a, Ship (original 16% 9% inches); b, Mask of killer 
whale (original 14% X 7% inches), Magpie Point near Angoon; reproduced 
from tracings. c, Circle (original 12 inches) and fish (?) (original 4 inches), 
Whitewater Bay;sketched. d, Symbols on cliff near Whitewater Bay; sketched. 
(Large figures 5 feet long; arms and stripe 6 inches wide.) 


76 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 


ati cit 


iia 


SKETCH MAP OF SITKOH BAY SITE 
SHOWING LOCATION OF PETROGLYPHS 


FIGURE 8. 
(For legend,’ see opposite page.) 


[Bull. 172 


LLL gb 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY CL 


although, of course, it is not impossible that the petroglyph itself 
suggested the story. The “copper,” 4% to 6 inches wide and 9 inches 
high, is outlined, and the area is divided into four quarters. The 
design is similar to that of a ‘copper’? carved on Etolin Island, 
except that the latter has only a transverse line across the middle 
and a vertical line dividing only the lower half of the shield (Emmons, 
1908 b, fig. 56). 

Our Juneau informant professed to recognize the face surmounted 
by three featherlike ornaments (fig. 8, No. 3), although we had only a 
sketch drawn from memory to show him. He said that the picture was 
“derived from the Tsimshians,’”’ but how we could not learn. It 
represented a warrior with face blackened by charcoal, called t‘itedtk, 
“black face.” 1* ‘When they put that on,’’ he explained, ‘“‘they don’t 
go back from their word,” that is, blackening the face is like making 
a vow. In the winter of 1948-49, an old woman was found dead 
in her cabin at Angoon, lying composedly on the bed (or floor ?), 
her face blackened with soot from the stove. It was believed that 
she had known herself to be dying, and had thus prepared herself 
for death to show that she was not afraid. She was the daughter of 
a Teq*edi father, and the Teq”edi are supposed to be particularly 
brave, a trait also claimed by the children of the sib. I am not, how- 
ever, satisfied with this interpretation of the petroglyph. Dr. Erna 
Gunther, who saw the drawing made in the field, suggested that it 
might represent an octopus or devilfish, since the latter has a head 
with pointed beak and large eyes; the “feathers’? would represent 
the tenacles with suction cups. 

Our informant refused to say anything more about the pictures. 

The most complicated carving (fig. 8, No. 1; pl. 11, d) was on a 
fallen slab of rock above the beach. The flat surface measures 38 by 
52 inches, and is cracked in several places. The designs are pecked 
to a depth of about one-fourth of an inch, and have been lined with 
white paint, evidently smeared on by someone who wished to photo- 
graph them. This, however, made it impossible for us to obtain either 


14 This perhaps refers to the hero, Black Skin (dukt’uL’), cf. Swanton, 1909, pp. 145-150. 


Fiacure 8.—Petroglyphs, Sitkoh Bay. Drawn by Catharine McClellan. Upper, 
Sketch map of southeastern end of site, with numbers indicating the location 
of the petroglyphs described below. Lower, Petroglyphs: 1, Carved slab, 38 
by 52 inches, with frog, raven’s head (?), ete. 2, Carved slab, 16 by 17 inches, 
with concentric circles with arms. 3, Devilfish (?) face on vertical cliff; total 
carved area, 20 by 16 inches. 4, Concentric circles on ledge, 514 inches in 
diameter. 5, ‘“‘Copper’’ on ledge, 6 by 9 inches. 6, Oval on ledge, about 6 
inches long. 7, Unidentified carving on vertical cliff, about 15 inches long. 
8, Spiral on low outcrop, 14 inches diameter. 9, Spiral and lines on low out- 
crop, 8 by 12 inches. 10, Animal’s head on low outcrop, 6 by 6 inches. 


78 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


a completely accurate photograph or sketch. The complicated design, 
in which circles with central dots are prominent, suggests a number of 
animal or bird figures. The largest element looks like a frog, and 
above it is what may be the head of araven. The other parts cannot 
be interpreted. In complexity and style, this carving is not unlike 
the petroglyph illustrating Raven’s theft of water (Emmons, 1908 b, 
fig. 44). 

A smaller broken slab (fig. 8, No. 2) is about 16 by 17 inches. This 
has a design of two concentric circles with dot in the center and three 
or four curving arms. A photograph taken some years ago (pl. 11, a) 
shows both lower arms extending beyond the crack, the lower right 
arm being curved rather like the upper left one. These portions were 
obliterated when we saw it, however. 

The face of a devilfish (fig. 8, No. 3) is on a vertical face of rock, 
and when we found it, it was covered with moss and lichens. The sur- 
face of the rock bends to slant back at an angle of about 20 degrees 
at approximately the line of the creature’s forehead. The lines of the 
head are lightly pecked; those to the left are deeper and wider. Above 
the face are traces of at least two other badly weathered faces with 
large round eyes, too indistinct to copy. The total area of these 
designs is 20 inches wide and 16 inches high, and the lowest part is 
16 inches above the ground. 

On the ledge of rock which runs out onto the beach and which is 
probably covered at extreme high water (pl. 11, f), are the “‘copper”’ 
(fig. 8, No. 5), a set of three concentric rings around a central dot 
(fig. 8, No. 4), and an oval (fig. 8, No. 6). The circles are 5% inches 
in diameter, and the design is almost identical with an Etolin Island 
petroglyph identified by Emmons’ informants as representing the sun, 
although Emmons himself reports that the same design is also used 
for the earth (Emmons, 1908 b, fig. 58). 

On the cliff at the northwest end of the knoll is a complex design 
which we were unable to interpret (fig. 8, No. 7; pl. 11, 6). The peck- 
ing is only one-eighth of an inch deep. The petroglyph is smeared 
with commercial white paint and has been used for target practice. 

The remaining petroglyphs are on low rock outcrops northwest of 
the cliff. A spiral, 14 inches in diameter (fig. 8, No. 8; pl. 11, c), faces 
the sea. A second spiral, 12 by 8 inches (fig. 8, No. 9), an animal’s 
head with erect ears, 6 by 6 inches (fig. 8, No. 10), and an indecipher- 
able figure (not illustrated) face toward the land. The spirals, as 
Emmons indicated for a petroglyph on Etolin Island (Emmons, 1908 b, 
fig. 61), may well represent the woodworm, for this is one of the most 
important crests of the Ganaxadi. 

Although other pictures were reported in the vicinity of the Sitkoh 
Bay village site, we could not find them. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 79 


SUMMARY 


It is not surprising that the rock carvings and paintings in the 
Angoon area should be similar in style to those carved on rocks near 
Wrangell (Keithahn, 1940, fig. 14), on Etolin Island in the Wrangell 
area, and on Lisiansky Bay near Sitka (Emmons, 1908 b). In addition 
to general resemblances in the treatment of animal forms, we may also 
note such specific elements as ovals, circles, concentric circles, spirals, 
X’s, and “coppers.”’ There are also four-pointed stars with a dot in 
the hollow center, a five-pointed star with a hollow center, and a 
circle with dot in the center and 10 rays, all of which are somewhat 
analogous to the four-pointed star with hollow center at Whitewater 
Bay. Lastly, there are faces, with or without outlines, the eyes indi- 
cated by circles, concentric circles, or circles with dots. As Heizer 
has pointed out, these same elements are also found among the petro- 
glyphs at Cape Alitak on Kodiak Island (Heizer, 1947). However, 
although the Kodiak petroglyphs are undoubtedly, as he argues, re- 
lated to or derived from Northwest Coast tradition, in feeling they also 
seem to be akin to the pictographs in Prince William Sound in many 
respects (de Laguna, 1956, pp. 102-109). 


ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES AT DAXATKANADA ISLAND AND 
PILLSBURY POINT 


DAXATKANADA ISLAND 


Since most of our archeological work was concentrated on 
Daxatkanada Island and at the nearby site at Pillsbury Point it is 
appropriate to describe these in more detail. 

The name daxdtkanada was translated as ‘‘Where the tide passes 
back and forth.” Swanton (1909, p. 77) refers to a place, the location 
of which he does not specify, as datx-xatkanadd-ni, which is 
etymologically correct for ‘around rapids-run fort,’’ but which is 
not the way the word is pronounced in rapid speech. This is probably 
our island, although the only incident connected with it which Swanton 
reports is that some Indians from the south, who were returning from 
successful raids on Hoonah settlements, stopped at the fort and broke 
up the canoes of the [Angoon] people to frighten them so that they 
would not dare to fight. There is no mention of a long siege. Other 
traditions connected with Daxatkanada are recorded on pages 150 ff. 

This island (fig. 9) lies about 1% miles northeast of Angoon, at the 
upper end of Channel] Point Island at the entrance to Steamer Passage. 
It is a little over 360 feet long and about 150 feet wide, and is formed 
by sharply tilted beds of conglomerate, sandstone and shale. This 
formation, which has a strike almost magnetic north and south, with 
a steep dip to the east, also makes the rocky headland at Pillsbury 


{Bull. 172 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 


80 


ANS 
SSAA TAIT 


SNR Se 


Mins 


'% 
Uy 
/ 


~——- 


AW AWA YL os = 
AUN ae poe 


DA XAT KANADA 


BENNY AN 
~ 227 a 
ny 


\ 


Wary 


\\s 


Jai 


wh 


{ 
\ 


~ 
~~ 
S 
VS 
= 
wit 


5O FEET 


aa 
eae ly 
BS 
as 
oak 


REEF 


ISLANO 


CHANNEL POINT 


‘IGURE 9.—Sketch map of Daxatkanada Island, 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 8] 


Point 300 yards farther north. ‘The tidal currents that drain and fill 
Mitchell Bay rush past both sides of the island, so that approach is 
dificult at any time except slack water. Access to the narrow 
summit, at its highest point some 58 feet above the high-tide mark, is 
possible only from the eastern side. 

According to our informants, the Decitan built a palisade or fort 
(nu) around the top of the island. This was described as 20 feet 
high (!), with loopholes on each side from which one could look 
out. Two young men served as sentries at night, changing sides at 
intervals. If anyone tried to get in, they would kill him with a club. 
Our informant added that the remains of this fort were still visible 
when he was a little boy, about 1870-80. Inside was a bark 
house. Another informant said that the trees were all cut down, 
smooth or bare (?) “like a table,’”’ but did not explain whether only the 
island or the nearby shores were also cleared. This woman also 
said that only men stayed on the island, although the women who 
remained at Pilisbury Point might visit them if no danger threatened. 
Ten men used to be at Daxatkanada at a time, crossing to and from 
Pillsbury Point at slack water. The men were stationed at the fort 
to watch and listen for the enemy who, it was feared, would come to 
take slaves. 

There is a stone causeway or “bridge” (pl. 3), now about 28 feet 
long and 15 to 16 feet wide, made of boulders, which connects 
Daxatkanada with the northernmost point of Channel Point Island. 
It is exposed only for an hour or two at low water. It was built 
(by slaves ?) so that people from the little island could cross to get 
water from the spring or seep on the larger island. According to the 
most credible version of the siege of Daxatkanada (see p. 151), the 
absence of water in the fort was disastrous for the defenders. 

At a later time, a long deceased older brother of one of our elderly 
informants lived on the island and had a garden on top, the outlines 
of which are still visible. An elderly woman said that when she was 
young, she went with a party from Angoon to gather edible seaweed 
on the western side of the island. At that time she was told that 
there had been a fort on top, but did not know how people could 
climb up to it. She called the island the ‘head of Angoon.”’ 

In 1949 the site was briefly explored and several test pits dug. In 
1950, after securing permission from several of the leading Decitan 
men, excavations were concentrated in two areas: a shelf about half- 
way up the sloping eastern side of the island, and a saddle above the 
northern end of this shelf. In addition, test pits were dug on the 
higher parts of the island, and a trench was run down the steep 
slope of the eastern face of the island below the summit. 


82 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


THE SHELF 


This sloping area on the eastern side of the island is about 40 feet 
long (N-S) and 20 to 25 feet wide. At the northern end is a brass 
marker of the General Land Office Survey, marked: “1931, T50S 
R68E 828.” This was estimated to be about 34 feet 4 inches above 
mean lower low water, or 20 feet 6 inches above mean high-tide line. 
From this marker, we ran a line south down the middle of the shelf, 
and on each side of this line divided the area into 5 foot squares, 
designated ‘‘A, B, C,”’ to “H” from north to south, and “IW, 18, 
2H,” and “3E,” according to their position west or east of the middle 
line (fig. 10). These squares were excavated in 6-inch levels, parallel 
to the sloping surface of the ground, and where possible, the specimens 
found were cataloged, not only according to square and depth, but 
according to the natural stratigraphy of the deposits (fig. 11). 

The highest point of the excavated portion of the shelf was at the 
northwest corner of square B1W, 21 feet 6 inches above high water 
(1 foot above the survey marker). From here the shelf sloped toward 
the southeast, the lowest point being the southeast corner of square 
G2E, some 8 feet 6 inches below the highest. It was evident that 
the path to the top of the island must have traversed this shelf and 
led up to the saddle above its northern end. It was on this shelf 
and on the steeper slopes above and below it that most of the shelly 
midden had accumulated. Although one of our informants believed 
that we would find more artifacts on top of the island, where the fort 
had been, this part of the site seemed very sterile, and most of our 
material came from the midden on the shelf. In comparison with 
the sites in Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet with which I am 
familiar, it was not, however, as rich in shells, animal bone or artifacts. 

The whole northern end and western side of the island is now 
wooded; the central part of the summit, the shelf and most of the 
eastern slope was grown with berry bushes. When these had been 
removed from the shelf, no overmantle of turf was found above 
the midden, but shells, animal bones, etc., were visible on the surface. 
The midden consisted of dark humus, containing numerous pebbles 
and rocks, many of which were discolored and cracked from use in 
stone boiling. There were also shells, animal, bird, and fish bones (see 
below), charcoal fragments, wood ash, and even some fragments of 
wood (not roots). This shelly midden varied in depth from 6 inches 
at the northern end of the shelf to a maximum of 30 inches in the 
central portion (FIE, F2E, G1E, G2E), and dwindled away again 
to 10 inches at the south. In some places, especially along the eastern 
edge, the midden rested directly on the protruding ridges of the steeply 
tilted bedrock, but in most areas it was underlain by a sterile subsoil 


F A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 83 


THE STORY O 


de Laguna] 


“BSHBIV AA OUdIT AG UMBIPSY 


‘puvls] BpeuRyyexeg ‘jjaYSs UO UeppiuI Jo WI0jjoq—O,T aNNDIY 


3 ¢90 3 a 9 


N3CGdIW 430 WOLLOG 
SITSHS VOVNVALVXVG 


84 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


(podosol) of a clayey-sandy nature, derived from the decomposed 
bedrock. This subsoil varied in color from gray to pink, tan, and even 
orange, as it had been stained by organic materials leached from the 
midden above or had been baked by fires. Between the midden and 
the subsoil there were either thin patches of charcoal or of soil mixed 
with gray ash; or, especially in the central section, the midden and 
subsoil were separated by thicker bands of dark greasy humus that 
contained decayed or carbonized organic material (forest litter ?). 
These intermediate layers of charcoal, ash, or dark humus extended 
to a maximum depth of 33 inches to 38 inches below the surface, and 
while usually distinct from the shelly midden above, in some places 
seemed to merge with it, since they contained lines of decomposed 
shells, animal bones, etc., which had probably been trampled into 
them. ‘These intermediate layers, like the midden, also contained 
a good deal of gravel and small stones, most of which, we assume, 
were carried up from the beach by human agency. Other rounded 
pebbles are identical with those in the underlying conglomerate and 
probably weathered out of the latter and worked up into the soil 
through frost action. 

Although cross-sectional diagrams were made of this stratigraphic 
sequence at a number of places in the deposit on the shelf (fig. 11), 
there was no observable difference between the types of artifacts 
recovered from the upper and lower parts of the midden itself, or 
between these and the fewer specimens from the ashy and greasy 
layers below the midden proper. (See the lists of artifacts given 
in the Appendix according to square and layer.) 

The intermediate layers begin near the western edge of the shelf, 
as if they, lke the shelly midden above them, had been formed 
by washing or dumping of material from the slope above, and they 
peter out toward the east. Some of these layers were cut through 
in E1W, E1E, E2E to form the shallow pit or depression that oc- 
cupies most of F1W and G1W, all of F1E and G1E, and parts of 
E2E, F2E, and G2E. This is an oval area, about 15 feet long (NE- 
SW) and about 12 feet wide (SE-NW), although the exact bound- 
aries to the south and east could not be clearly traced (fig. 10). It 
was in this depression that the midden attained its greatest depth. 
Near the bottom of the pit was a lens of concentrated shells, and 
both above and below this shell pocket were evidences of fire. Al- 
though the bottom of the depression is not level since it slopes toward 
the southeast, one has the impression it was a “floor” of some kind, 
for the lowest layers of the midden are here dark and compressed, 
and lenses of beach gravel, shell, and ash are trampled into the under- 
lying greasy forest humus. There are also a number of large stones 


85 


THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 


de Laguna] 


“BSYVIBAA OUdIT AQ UMBIPIY ‘“pUBIS] BPPVUBYyExEG ‘JJeyS UO UApprUL Jo UOT}OS SsSOIQ— TI TUADIY 


200u036 


Mi fpr 


XX X ONOIV 
413HS VOVNUMLYXVO 4O 37140ud 


LA Ltd Ly 


86 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


at or near the bottom of the midden, within or close to the edges of 
the depression. Both inside and outside this area there are many 
postholes, ranging in size from 2 to 6 inches in diameter. They were 
made by driving sharpened posts or stakes into the subsoil to depths 
of 6 to 10 inches. In a few of these, the remains of posts were actually 
preserved; other holes were empty or contained material derived 
from the midden above. From the posts themselves and from the 
shapes of the holes, it was evident that the posts and stakes had been 
cut with sharp-edged metal axes or adzes (pl. 4, c, d). Associated 
with these postholes and outside the depression in G2E and H2E, 
there was a pile of rocks that marked the southern edge of the area. 
Although the pattern of postholes is far from regular, it looks as if 
there had been here a flimsy shelter of some kind, perhaps made of or 
covered with bark, in which fires were built. Some of the posts and 
stones inside the shallow pit may have supported an artificial flooring, 
but more probably served as racks or spits for smoking or cooking 
fish. As time passed, kitchen debris accumulated, some of which was 
trampled underfoot, or fell below the flooring. 

Remains of what may have been a similar but smaller structure 
were discovered at the north end of the shelf, the southern edge of 
which is represented by the postholes and piled rocks in C2E, C1, 
and B1W. The eastern edge of the shelter would have been in- 
side the ridges of bedrock in B2E and A2E. Inside this area were 
hearths and accumulations of gray ash. Just inside the ‘‘wall’” of 
stones in C2E was a sione vessel (pl. 4, a) which may have been a 
lamp. This section of the site was excavated before the saddle was 
investigated, and it was therefore impossible to compare it with the 
steps uncovered on the edge of the saddle above. However, the 
cutting or digging away of the subsoil in both areas seems to have 
been quite similar, and it is possible that if the terrain between the 
shelf and the saddle had been cleared we might have found a series 
of steps leading up from the beach to the top of the island. It should 
be noted that one of the flat stones found near the bottom of the 
midden in C2E was worn smooth as if it had been repeatedly trodden 
on, like a stone found in the midden over a step at the edge of the 
saddle (fig. 12). 

That there may once have been repositories of cremated remains 
on the island is suggested by finding two human teeth: a charred in- 
cisor in A2E and another tooth on the burned subsoil in C1E. We 
explored the ledges in the cliff on the western side of the island, where 
partial overhangs might have been used to shelter the bodies of 
shamans, but found no trace of graves. The natives did not mention 
that burials had been made on the island. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY S7 


THE SADDLE 


We excavated the eastern edge of the saddle above the northwest 
part of the shelf, where access to the top of the island was easiest. 
Squares 2-T and 2-S were on top of the saddle, 1-U, 1-T, 1-S at the 
break of the slope, and O-U, O-T, and O-S on the edge of the slope 
(fig. 12). The upper edge of the excavation (2-S) lay about 17 feet 
above the survey mark on the shelf, or 37 feet 8 inches above the high- 


DAXATKANADA SADDLE y BOTTOM OF MIDDEN 
FiGuRE 12.—Bottom of midden on saddle, Daxatkanada Island. Redrawn by 
Irene Waraksa. 

460927—60——_7 


88 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


tide line. The lower edge of the excavation (O-S) was 4 feet 6 inches 
below the top of the saddle, or about halfway down the steep slope 
to the shelf. Because of the character of the terrain, most of the 
squares on the saddle were smaller than those on the shelf. 

The saddle and its eastern slope were covered by moss 2 to 4 inches 
thick (fig. 13). Below this was a midden deposit, the upper part of 
which was hard-packed brown humus. The midden on top of the 
saddle was only 9 inches thick and contained but scanty traces of 
shell or animal bone. The midden layer became thicker lower on the 
slope, where it reached a maximum depth of 14 inches and held richer 


PROFILE OF DAXATKANADA SADDLE 2 
ALONG YY' 


CLAY SUBSOIL 


0 ! 2 3) Geer 
—————— EE 


Figure 13.—Cross section of midden on saddle, Daxatkanada Island. Redrawn 
by Irene Waraksa. 


evidence of human occupation. Below this layer in some places, 
there were patches of finely crushed shells and humus, resembling 
guano, which were almost sterile of artifacts. The bottom of the 
midden below the “guano” consisted of pockets of dark, charcoal- 
stained humus, containing shells, animal bones, and artifacts. The 
deepest pocket, at the lower edge of 1-S and 1-T, was some 30 inches 
below the surface. Underlying the midden was bedrock or yellow 
clay or pinkish-yellow subsoil. Dug or driven into the subsoil and 
clay were postholes like those encountered on the shelf. Some seemed 
to form irregular lines across the slope, and scattered between them, 
at or near the bottom of the midden, were many large rocks. A de- 
pression (natural ?) on top of the saddle was lined with thin slabs of 
rock and layers of bark, between which were lenses of crushed shells 
and some animal bones. 

On the slope below the saddle there were two apparently artificial 
steps, about 12 to 15 inches deep, 2 feet 6 inches wide, and 6 feet long, 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 89 


cut into the subsoil. It was in these that the deepest layers of mid- 
den had accumulated. Since it is also here that there is the easiest 
access to the top of the island, we imagine that these steps had been 
cut to facilitate the climb. From the top of the saddle there is a 
very gentle slope to the highest point of the island. 

Although one might have expected to find at the edge of the saddle 
the postholes of the palisade which was said to have been built around 
the top of the island, most of the holes found in this section of the site 
were only 3 to 4 inches in diameter, which would appear to be too 
small for a defensive purpose, and there were too few of a larger size 
to have made an effective wall. 

Again, no difference could be seen between the types of artifacts 
found in the upper and lower parts of the midden on the saddle. 
They were of the same kinds as those found in different layers on 
the shelf. 


OTHER TEST PITS 


Two test holes dug in 1949 were on the shelf, one in square E1E and 
the other overlapping squares B1W and B2W. 

In 1949 a trench was dug across the top of the island, just south 
of the summit. This revealed humus, mixed with ash, charcoal, and 
some fire-cracked rocks to a maximum depth of 26 inches, and con- 
tained a few artifacts. The level area here is only about 25 feet wide 
(H-W) and 50 feet long. In 1950 another test hole was dug just north 
of the highest part of the island, where there was only a layer of 
humus, 6 or 7 inches deep, on top of sterile subsoil and bedrock. In 
the subsoil were found two postholes, one very small, the second 
somewhat larger and flanked with rocks which probably served to 
wedge in the post more securely. Between the two holes was a broken 
splitting adz (pl. 5, a) which appeared to have been driven into the 
ground after the cutting end had been broken off. Because the 
cultural remains were so scanty, we made no further attempt to 
excavate here and thus cannot report whether there is any evidence 
to confirm the tradition of a bark house on top of the island. There 
was certainly no sign of postholes large enough for a palisade, and 
indeed the soil is so thin that it is difficult to see how it could support 
anything more than stakes or light poles. 

In 1950 we also dug among the trees between the saddle at the 
north end of the island and the garden just north of the summit, but 
found only forest humus. 

The eastern slope of the island just below the summit was also 
explored in 1950. This has a mantle of shelly midden about 6 inches 
thick and is overgrown with berry bushes. In running a narrow 
trench from the top halfway down the slope, remains of a fallen 


90 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


tree or timber were uncovered, but this was not enough to prove the 
existence of a palisade in this section of the island. 

The north and south ends of the island and the whole western side 
have steep cliffs, impossible or exceedingly difficult to climb. Some 
of the ledges overhang slightly to form shallow rock shelters, but we 
found nothing in them. 


CONTENTS OF THE DEPOSITS 


During the excavations, notes and diagrams were made for each 
6-inch level of each square. These records include descriptions of the 
character of the soil or midden deposits, sketches of cross sections, 
and sketches or photographs indicating the position of postholes, 
boulders or piles of rocks, hearths, artifacts in situ, etc. In addition, 
we kept for future identification all of the bird, fish, and animal bones 
from each level and square, as well as samples of the shells and vegetal 
remains. A summary of the character and contents, including arti- 
facts, of each level of each excavated square will be found in the 
Appendix. 

Despite the differences in the character of the deposits (shelly 
midden, dark earthy midden, ash, ‘‘guano,”’ dark forest humus, and 
subsoil), there were no corresponding differences to be detected in 
the types of artifacts or of the food remains found in these various 
layers. The total number of specimens was too small to indicate 
trends in the proportions of artifact types during the period of occu- 
pation. Everything, in fact, indicated that this site had been occupied 
only in early historic times. 


WOOD AND SEEDS 


Fragments of wood and charcoal were collected. These included 
posts or pieces found in postholes, firewood, and shaped pieces that 
seem to have been remains of wooden implements. Among the latter 
were a fragment of a barbed harpoon head, a peg with a slit at one 
end, a grooved implement (possibly an ulo handle), and 5 small pegs 
or sharp sticks. 

The species of wood ! represented are: western hemlock (Tsuga 
heterophylla), mountain hemlock (T. mertensiana), lodgepole pine 
(Pinus contorta), and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis). Many of the 
specimens of wood and charcoal were interpenetrated by the roots of 
a kind of wild grape (Vitis sp.). Hemlock was the wood best repre- 
sented, and seems to have been used for all or most of the larger 
posts or stakes. One of these (pl. 4, c) appears to have been sharpened 
with a steel ax. There is no other definite evidence that steel or 


15 We are indebted to Dr. Elso S. Barghoorn, associate professor of botany and curator of paleobotany 
at the Biological Laboratories, Harvard University, for this identification. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY OI 


iron axes were used at the site, although many of the postholes, as 
already mentioned, seem to have been made by driving in sharp 
stakes which had probably been cut with such metal tools (pl. 4, d). 

Berry seeds were found in little piles or pockets at a number of 
places in the deposits on the shelf. They are seeds of the red-berried 
elder (Sambucus callicarpa (Greene),'® sometimes classified as Sambucus 
racemosa Linn., var. callicarpa (Greene) Jepson). This plant, called 
yel’ by the natives, grows on the island, and indeed on almost every 
clearing in southeastern Alaska. The natives gather the berries in 
August, when some green ones may still be found in addition to the 
ripe red ones. These are slowly boiled, together with the tiny twigs 
which are said to add to the flavor, and the resulting paste is put up in 
jars for the winter. Some women add sugar, but others prefer the 
unsweetened tartness of the natural berries. In the old days, the 
paste was dried in the form of cakes and stored in boxes. The seeds 
in the midden may represent the remains of such cakes, or may be the 
result of the storing activities of mice. However, since both bears 
and the natives’ dogs are fond of berries, the seeds may have been 
derived from the feces of such animals. 


SHELLFISH, BARNACLES, SEA URCHINS 


The midden at Daxatkanada indicates that shellfish formed an 
important part of the diet. Although no complete count was made 
of all the shells uncovered in the excavations, samples indicate that 
the most common species !” used for food were cockles (Cardium corbis 
now Clinocardium nuttali (Conrad)), blue mussels (Mytilus edulis 
(Linne)), common and giant chitons (Katharina truncata (Wood), 
Cryptochiton stellert now Amicula stelleri (Middendorff)), and espe- 
cially clams. The latter were chiefly the common smooth Washington 
clam (Sazidomus giganteus (Deshayes)), the Pacific little-neck 
(Protothaca staminea (Conrad)), and the large Pacific gaper (Schizo- 
theraeus nuttali (Conrad)), although there were also a few examples of 
other species of clams (Humilaria kennerleyi (Reeve), Pododesmus 
macroschisma (Deshayes), Mya truncata (Linne), Macoma inquinata 
(Deshayes)). Less common were small whelks or dogwinkles (Thais 
lamellosa (Gmelin), 7. lima (Gmelin), 7. canaliculata (Duclos), 7. sp.) 
and tritons (Argobuccinum oregonense (Deshayes), Buccinum sp.), 
although they were probably eaten. 

According to the natives, shellfish were not eaten during the summer 
because of the danger of poisoning. The presence of shells in the 
midden, therefore, suggests occupation of the site in the autumn. 

16 Tdentified by Dr. LeRoy E. Detling, curator of the herbarium, University of Oregon. 
17 Identified by Francis A. Riddell, Allyn G. Smith, and Robert E. Greengo; and also by Dr. Edward W. 


Gifford, Director of the Anthropological Museum, University of California. ‘The names have been checked 
against Abbott, 1954. 


92 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


winter, and spring. Chitons, both large and small species, seem to 
have been eaten at any time of the year. 

Sea urchin spicules and fragments of shell were found at a number 
of places in the midden and were identified as those of Strongylocen- 
trotus purpuratus. Sea urchins are said to be eaten in early spring 
and in late summer. 

A few limpets (Acmea testudinalis scutum or patina, and A. pelia), 
Sitka periwinkles (Littorina sitkana (Philippi)), and a small burrowing 
clam (Sazicava pholadis (Linne), now Hiatella arctica), as well as a 
few barnacle shells (Balanus cariosus (Pallas), and possibly B. glan- 
dula),® were probably introduced into the site by accident, for there 
are too few examples from Daxatkanada to suggest that these ever 
formed part of the native diet. On the other hand, we did find a 
pendant made from a piece of barnacle shell (pl. 10, e). 

The shells of a few land snails (Polygyra (Vespericola) columbiana 
(Lea) and Haplotrema vancouverensis (Lea)) were found in the midden, 
but these are certainly the remains of animals attracted by the limey 
soil, for there is no evidence that snails were eaten by the Tlingit. 


FISH 


Although many fish bones were found in the midden, most were 
too fragmentary to be identified. The species represented '° were 
salmon (Oncorynchus sp.), halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis), salmon 
trout (Salmo sp.), rockfish or “rock cod’’ (Sebastodes sp.), and sculpin 
(Enophrys bison and possibly Ceratocottus diceraus). Salmon, of 
course, formed the basis of Tlingit diet, although halibut were also 
important. An informant said that ‘‘black cod”’ was considered the 
best variety of cod, but that the people did not care for trout. The 
salmon, of course, are caught only in the summer and fall, but such 
quantities were smoked and dried for consumption at other seasons 
that the presence of many salmon bones in the deposits gives us no 
clue as to the time of year when the island was occupied or visited. 


BIRDS 


Many bird bones were found, of which a considerable number had 
been shaped as specimens, but it was not possible to identify the 
species represented with certainty.” Most of the larger bones and 
claws are those of eagles, probably the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leuco- 
cephalus) which is very common in the region today, of swans, prob- 


18 Tdentified by Dr. Frank Rogers, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 

19 We are indebted to Dr. W. I. Follett, curator of fishes, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, 
for these identifications. 

20 Dr. Robert T. Orr, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, examined the material but was able 
to make only a partial identification. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 93 


ably the whistling swan (Cygnus columbianus), and of loons, probably 
the common loon (Gavia immer). The smaller bones seem to belong 
to unidentified ducks and shore birds. 


ANIMALS 


Animal bones were numerous, and represent many of the mammals 
indigenous to Admiralty Island today. The present species include 
five kinds of brown grizzly (Ursus neglectus, U. insularis, U. eulophus, 
U. mirabilis, and U. shirasi) found only on Admiralty Island. There 
are also the American black bear (Huarctos americanus americanus), 
Sitka black-tailed deer (Odocoileus sitkensis), Alexander Archipelago 
wolf (Canis lupus ligont), marten (Maries americana actuosa), Pacific 
land otter (Luira canadensis pacijica), Admiralty beaver (Castor 
canadensis phoeus), marmot (Marmota cf. caligata), mink (Mustela 
vison nesolestes), four kinds of weasel (Mustela arminea salea, M. a. 
inites, M. a. celendra, and M. a. seculsa), Alaska white-footed mouse 
(Peromyscus maniculatus hyleus), Admiralty meadow mouse, found 
only on Admiralty Island (Microtus admiraltiae), and the Alaska red 
squirrel (Sciurus hudsonicus picatus). 

Sea mammals in the area are, unless recently extinct, the sea otter 
(Enhydra lutris lutris), Pacific harbor seal (Phoca richard richardii), 
sea lion (Humetopias jubata), and Pacific harbor porpoise (Phocaena 
vomerina). In addition, there are various types of whales, chief of 
which are the blackfish whale and the killer whale or orca. 

Riddell compiled tables indicating the frequency of all identifiable 
animal bones in each 6-inch level in each square excavated (see the 
Appendix). While these do not indicate any appreciable change in 
the types of animals hunted during the occupation of the site, they 
probably give an accurate indication of the proportions of the various 
species utilized by the natives. The Indians had told us that sea 
otter were formerly obtainable only in the outer waters, and it was sur- 
prising to discover that this animal, represented by a total of 310 
identified bones, was by far the most common species at Daxatkanada 
(and also at Pillsbury Point, see below). Since the island seems to 
have been occupied in early historic times, Riddell concludes that this 
animal was hunted for its fur, which was the most valued pelt sought 
by the early white traders. It is likely that the Tlingit also ate the 
meat. Our informants have evidently forgotten the traditions of 
early days when even the inner bays swarmed with these animals. 


21 Dufresne, 1946. Animal bones from the site were identified by Francis A. Riddell, assisted by Sheilagh 
Thompson and J. Arthur Freed, and by Dr. Seth B. Benson, curator of mammals, Museum of Vertebrate 
Zoology, University of California. 


94 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


Thus Vancouver wrote, referring specifically to Kake territory, but 
probably equally applicable to Admiralty Island: 

These bays and arms abound with a greater number of salmon and sea-otters, 
than Mr. Johnstone had observed on any other part of the coast; and as they were 
in greatest abundance at the heads of these places, it was inferred that the salmon, 
and other small fish, form a large proportion of the food of the sea-otters, which 
are thus induced to frequent these inland channels, to which at this season of the 
year [August 1794] such fishes resort. [Vancouver, 1801, vol. 6, pp. 52 f.] 

Both the Angoon and Kake natives he encountered had many sea otter 
furs to trade. Evidently Kootznahoo Inlet was a rich hunting area. 

Next in importance at Daxatkanada was the harbor seal, repre- 
sented by 140 bones. It was undoubtedly hunted for its flesh, blubber, 
and skin. It is still hunted by Angoon men, and the older people, 
especially, relish the meat and fat. Today the skins are used for 
moccasins sold to curio shops, and the Government pays a bounty for 
the dried seal noses. One of our informants demonstrated how a seal 
humerus was used in divining. She held up the bone and said, 
“Tomorrow I will have good luck,” speaking through the hole in the 
distal end. She then tossed the bone onto the ground. If it lands 
and balances keel side up, this is a good omen or means an affirmative 
answer to a question. On this occasion, she had to throw the bone 
several times to achieve the desired result, and the next evening in- 
formed us, half joking, that her luck had been good. 

The other animals were much less important to the people of 
Daxatkanada. The totals of bones were: beaver 18, deer 17, por- 
poise 14, bear 14, marmot (including porcupine) 9, sea lion 8, land 
otter 2,and dog 9. Some of the last may include wolf bones, since the 
old breed of hunting dog was described as being very like the wolf. 
In addition, there were a number of scraps of whale bone, as well as 
implements of whale bone. Our informants said that while their 
ancestors did not know how to hunt whales, they ate the meat and also 
liked the oil. 

Riddell concludes that, aside from fish and shellfish, sea mammals 
were more important to the inhabitants of Daxatkanada than were 
waterfowl or land animals. 


PILLSBURY POINT 


This rocky point, which lies about 300 yards north (magnetic) 
from Daxatkanada Island, is called yaycayi nu, ‘‘Whale’s Head 
Fort,” a name evidently inspired by the shape of the headland at the 
end of the point. The tongue of land is actually composed of two 
headlands, between which is a small flat, about 150 feet wide, on 
which there are a cabin and garden (fig. 14). There is said to be a 
spring north of the garden, but we did not find it. The native owner, 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 95 


biG, 


“ed Toy, 
lig 
lly 
(aA 


i indicates 
excavations 


EES 
100 feet 


re cePllesec ested dygyzitig, 


Figure 14.—Site of Whale’s Head Fort, Pillsbury Point. 


a Wuckitan man, now lives in Angoon so that his children can attend 
school, for travel between the village and Pillsbury Point is rendered 
difficult by the strong tidal currents that rush past the point and are 
again encountered near Angoon. 

One informant said that the headland at the end of the point had a 
wall or palisade around the top and that “hundreds” of people stayed 
inside the fort. It was a Wuckitan place, but was abandoned after 
the inhabitants were defeated by enemies from Hoonah (see p. 150). 
An elderly woman said that when her mother was a little girl there 
used to be many houses on the flat, all crowded together. Like the 
fort, this was also a Wuckitan settlement and was abandoned when 
the Government enforced peace between warring tribes. The women 
used to stay here, while garrisons of 10 men at a time stood watch on 


Daxatkanada. 


96 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


We found no trace of cultural deposit on the summit of the head- 
land nor on top of its lower northern spur, where there are remains of 
an abandoned garden. Nor was there any sign of the reported pali- 
sade. A test pit in the garden on the flat exposed a midden of black 
humus, shells, fire-cracked rocks and pebbles to a depth of 20 inches. 
Below this was a layer of burned(?) and rotted wood, about 6 inches 
thick, that rested on sterile subsoil. The owner told us that he had 
found an “‘ax’’ (splitting adz), an implement like an “‘ax-pick” (head of 
a war club?), a labret, and a quartz strike-a-light in his garden. 

The midden is much deeper and richer on the eastern edge of the 
flat, where refuse had apparently been piled up against the steep 
side of the headland or been thrown down from the top of the knoll 
above. Since this portion of the site had not been disturbed by 
gardening, and because the deepest part of the midden was 6 feet 
thick in one place, most of our explorations were concentrated here. 
We dug a trench 4 feet wide and 18 feet long in the narrow space 
between the steep slope and the garden fence. Here 10 major layers 
could be distinguished, although some of these either ran together in 
some places or petered out and were replaced by minor deposits. 
The artifacts recovered are listed in the Appendix. The layers were: 

(A) Loose rocks and pebbles from the hillside above, and humus. 

(B 1) Humus with rock fragments and whole clam shells. 

(B 2) Humus with pebbles and tightly packed crushed shells. 

(C) Dark midden of earth and closely packed shells. 

(D) Midden with many sea urchin spines, mussel shells, clam shells, and fire- 
cracked rocks. (At both the north and south ends of the trench, layers C and 
D were replaced or varied by lenses and pockets of shells, pebbles, charcoal, ash, 
sea urchin remains, etc.) 

(E) Dark midden with rotted wood. 

(F) Midden with many mussel shells, some clams, charcoal, etc. (At the 
south end this had been cut away by a pit about 14 inches deep, and filled with 
material like that in layer E. We could not determine the areal extent of the 
depression.) 

(G) Midden, mostly of green sea-urchin spines, with some clam and mussel 
shells. 

(H) Thin layer of brown sea-urchin spines. 

(I) Thin layer of tan-brown ash, sandy soil, wood and charcoal, resting on 
the subsoil. 

The subsoil had been dug away in places, perhaps to make house 
pits or caches, and there were a number of large rocks lying on it 
or in the lower layers of the midden. A few postholes were also 
found. All this suggests structures of some kind, but our trench 
was too narrow to show the size or nature of these depressions, and 
we could not enlarge it without tearing down the garden fence and 
damaging the berry bushes in the garden. While most of the artifacts 
found here were like those obtained at Daxatkanada, a few additional 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 97 


types were encountered. However, there was nothing to indicate 
that the cultures at the two sites were different, although Pillsbury 
Point may have been slightly older, since no objects of white manu- 
facture were found. 

The fish bones were those of salmor, halibut, and ‘‘rock cod’’; the 
shellfish, barnacles, and sea urchins were of the same species as those 
represented at Daxatkanada. The animal bones identified by Riddell 
consisted of: sea otter, 106; seal, 18; bear, 6; deer, 3; eagle (claws), 5; 
beaver, 2; porcupine, 2. There were also fragments of whale or 
sea lion bone. Pillsbury Point was evidently an important sea otter 
hunting camp. 

FORTS 

Daxatkanada Island and Pillsbury Point, as well as most of the 
other sites from which we obtained specimens, were designated by 
the natives as forts. These, as well as other places pointed out to 
us as having been fortified, were either small steep-sided islets or 
rocky promontories equally difficult to climb. They were said to 
have been fortified by a palisade of closely set posts. Such forts 
(nu) might surround a group of houses or huts, or a single house, like 
the former Wuckitan ‘Fort House” in Angoon that stood inside 
its own walls. It was disappointing that we were not able to discover 
any archeological evidence as to how such fortifications were 
constructed. 

The lack of large postholes at Daxatkanada at just the places 
where one might have expected them for strategic purposes makes 
one question the tradition that the island was fortified, but is not 
sufficient to discredit it. Standing trees may have been left as the 
main supports of the walls, or some other method may have been 
employed to brace them which did not involve the use of posts sunk 
in the ground. That there may have been such methods is suggested 
by some of the descriptions of Tlingit forts given by the early explorers. 

Lisiansky has described the fort erected by the natives at Sitka 
and taken by the Russians in 1804 (Lisiansky, 1814, p. 163, pl. 3). 
It was an irregular parallelogram, the longest side facing the sea. 
It was about 200 feet long and 120 feet wide, and enclosed 14 houses. 
The lower part of the walls was made of three courses of horizontally 
laid logs, set in two rows between which rose a palisade of close-set 
timbers. The latter were connected near the top by a horizontal 
beam (on the outside only?), and this was braced at intervals by 
posts leaning against the wall. There were a doorway and two holes 
for cannon on the side toward the water, and two large doorways or 
gates on the landward side. Lisiansky writes that the fort was ‘‘so 
thick and strong, that the shot from my guns could not penetrate it 
at the distance of a cable’s length.”” Such a palisade, which depended 


98 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


upon the horizontal logs at the base of the wall and upon the log 
braces at the top for its strength, need not have required postholes. 
Indeed, at most of the sites reputedly fortified it would have been 
impossible to sink postholes in the shallow rocky soil. 

A newer fort, built somewhere in Peril Strait by the natives who 
had fled from Sitka, was visited by von Langsdorff in 1805, who 
describes it as follows: 

Expelled from Norfolk Sound, they have fortified themselves here, upon a rock 

which rises perpendicularly some hundred feet above the water. The only 
possible access to it is on the north-west side, and they have rendered this ex- 
tremely difficult by strewing it all over with very large trunks of trees which they 
have cut down. The rock itself is secured against attack of an enemy by a double 
palisade of large trunks of trees stuck close together, measuring from twelve to 
fifteen feet in heighth, and from three to four feet in thickness. A high natural 
wall of earth beyond the palisading, on the side towards the sea, conceals the 
inhabitants effectually, so that they cannot be discerned by any ship. [von 
Langsdorff, 1817, p. 410.] 
Inside were a number of plank houses, each large enough to accom- 
modate from 30 to 40 persons. The description of this place suggests 
that there was enough earth to hold the posts for the fort walls and 
for the house frames, as well as to form an outer protection for the 
palisade. 

Vancouver’s men in 1794 saw forts of a different type on the west 
coast of Kupreanof Island, that is, in Kake territory. These were 
apparently of the same kind as that built by the Kake Indians at 
Pybus Bay which our informant described as a temporary defense, 
and called by a special term meaning “built-up shelter” of horizontal 
logs, to distinguish it from a true fort with palisading. On Hamilton 
Bay, writes Vancouver— 
the remains of no less than eight deserted villages were seen; some of them were 
more decayed than others, but they were all uniformly situated in the summit of 
some precipice, or steep insular rock, rendered by nature almost inaccessible, and 
by art and great labour made a strong defence; which proved, that the inhabitants 
had been subject to the incursions of hostile visitors. These fortified places were 
well constructed with a strong platform of wood, laid on the most elevated part of 
the rock and projecting so far from its sides as to overspread the declivity. The 
edge of the platform was surrounded by a barricade raised by logs of wood placed 
on each other. [Vancouver, 1801, vol. 6, pp. 46 f.) 

The Kake forts destroyed by Lieutenant Commander Meade of the 
U.S. 8S. Saginaw in 1869 are described as “about 100 feet square and 
from 15 to 17 feet high, and built of logs from 9 to 15 inches thick.” 
They were apparently stockaded structures.” 

Unfortunately, none of these descriptions is very detailed, and 
Lisiansky’s plate was, of course, redrawn by a draftsman who probably 
had never seen a Tlingit fort, so it is not very accurate. 


22 Beardslee, 1882, p. 54, quoting from Meade’s report of February 24, 1869. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 99 


ARCHEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS FROM THE 
ANGOON AREA 


INTRODUCTION 


Specimens from the Angoon area are deposited in the University 
of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia. The provenience of each 
object is given in the Appendix and in the captions of the illustrations. 
Here, specimens obtained in 1949 are designated by their museum 
catalog numbers, ‘‘49—25-1”’ and so forth, and those in 1950 by their 
field numbers since they were not accessioned when this report was 
written. 

It will be remembered that attempts to correlate artifact types with 
layers of presumably different ages at Daxatkanada failed to reveal 
any significant differences between younger and older specimens, prob- 
ably because the time span involved was so short. All seemed to be- 
long to a period when the Tlingit had some access to trade material, 
probably obtained in exchange for sea otter skins, but before the 
aboriginal culture had been appreciably changed by contact with the 
whites. Although Hood Bay Fort and Pillsbury Point may be older 
than Daxatkanada, where a fragment of iron, a piece of glass, and a 
brass thimble were found, and where evidence of iron tools was 
present even in the lowest levels, there is nothing in the scanty finds 
from these other sites to suggest any difference in culture. For this 
reason all the available archeological specimens have been grouped 
together for purposes of description. 

Although most of the artifacts can be readily identified either 
through comparison with ethnological material in museums or from 
information from the natives, it will be noted that there are a few 
types which are difficult to interpret. The collection is small and 
many of the objects are either crudely made or broken, so that they 
fail to give us an adequate impression of the richness of Tlingit arts 
and crafts. As already suggested, the impression of poverty may be 
due to the fact that the material was obtained from forts and tem- 
porary camps, to which the best possessions were probably not taken. 

Unless otherwise specified, all the objects are to be understood 
as coming from the midden on Daxatkanada Island. Measurements 
enclosed in parenthesis ‘‘(—)’’ are given when the specimens are 
broken and the dimensions in question are therefore incomplete. 


HEAVY STONE IMPLEMENTS 


ADZES 


The natives distinguish between the heavy grooved splitting adz 
(t‘dyis, literally “stone wedge’’) which is used for chopping trees, 
and the smaller ungrooved planing adz (xtta, “‘chopper’’) which is 


100 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


used for shaping canoes and for similar work. Greenstone (stw) for 
making adzes was obtained from cliffs at a place called djigux in 
Redbluff Bay, Baranof Island. 

Since there is evidence that iron cutting tools were available to the 
inhabitants of Daxatkanada, it is surprising that 11 stone adzes were 
found at this island. Three similar specimens were obtained from 
other sites in the Angoon area. They are predominantly of green- 
stone (schist, gneiss, serpentine, or chert), and are mostly examples of 
the heavy grooved type. 

On the very top of the island was found a broken splitting adz of 
light greenish serpentine (pl. 5, @), from which the fore end is missing. 
It was as if the user, having broken his adz, had driven the useless 
blade into the ground. The specimen has a rectangular cross section, 
which seems to be the prevailing style in this area, and the flat surfaces 
of sides, bottom, and top are well polished. The butt is squared 
off but less carefully finished. Two grooves set between three knobs 
near the butt secured the lashing for the handle. The specimen is 
now (19.5) cm. long, but must originally have measured from 25 to 
30cm. It is 7.5 cm. high and 4 cm. wide. 

The lower portion of a similar, well-polished adz of greenstone was 
found on the beach of the island The width is about 3.5 cm. and the 
fragment is (15.5) cm. long. A fragment of a similar specimen, 
with remains of a broad lashing groove, was found on the Chatham 
Strait beach at Angoon, near the canoe landing place in front of the 
lineage houses. 

From the beach at Daxatkanada is a complete, but less well-made 
splitting adz of green sandstone (pl. 5, 6). Although waterworn, 
the surface still shows signs of pecking, but was apparently not 
polished. A very narrow groove between two knobs at the rear 
end formerly held the lashing. The butt is narrowed to a wedge. 
The adz measures 21.5 cm. in length, 7 cm. in height, and 4 cm. in 
width. 

A broken and unfinished green traprock splitting adz, roughly 
chipped and pecked, was also found on the Daxatkanada beach. 
The fragment is 6.5 em. high and 3.8 cm. wide. A similar unfinished 
and broken specimen, with a shallow lashing groove, comes from the 
beach at Pillsbury Point. Also from Daxatkanada beach is an elon- 
gated greenstone boulder, pecked on one side to produce an irregular 
ovoid cross section. It was possibly intended for a splitting adz 
(or for a war pick), but the end which might have had a cutting edge 
is broken off and there is no lashing groove. It measures (14) by 
6 by 4.5 cm. 

Planing adzes are poorly represented. That they were sometimes 
made from broken splitting adzes is indicated by a specimen from 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 101 


Daxatkanada midden (pl. 6, a). This is a long flake split from the 
fore end of a greenstone splitting adz, on which a new cutting edge 
has been ground. It is now 9.8 cm. long, 3 cm. wide, and 0.8 cm. 
thick. From the beach is the squared butt of a well-polished green- 
stone planing adz (pl. 6, c), measuring 3 by 1.4 cm. in cross section. 
A chip broken from the blade of a very well-polished green jade adz 
was also found in the midden. 

Three other adz fragments, of greenstone, argillite, and green chert, 
were too broken for identification. A slab of roughly flaked and 
chipped hard rock, from the midden at Pillsbury Point, may be an 
unfinished adz or scraper. 


MAULS AND PESTLEUS 


Mauls, the head and handle carved from one piece of hard wood, 
were described by the natives who said that they were used for driving 
the stakes for fish weirs and for splitting planks by means of wooden 
wedges. They did not describe any with stone heads. (Boas, 1917, 
gives the word t‘aqt for ‘“‘hammer.”’) 

A crude maul head, made of a light-colored gneiss boulder, with a 
roughly pecked groove for hafting (pl. 4, 6), was found at the edge of 
the ‘‘Ganax Women’s Fort”’ in Angoon. It is 12 cm. high and 14 by 9 
cm. in diameter. 

Three pestles or hand mauls were purchased from a resident of 
Angoon, who said that they had been found in the vicinity, probably 
in the southern part of the town. She called them ‘‘potato mashers,”’ 
and had herself used them for mashing berries. Such stone pestles 
(k‘a-texa ‘“surface-pounder”’) were formerly used to crush leaf 
tobacco in wooden mortars with planklike bases (k‘atexayit ‘“surface- 
pounder-place-below,” Vuixayet from Yuw “wood,” and kaxag*a 
“surface-grinder”’? Boas gives the word t‘aqayet for ‘‘mortar’’). 

The finest of the three pestles (pl. 5, d) has a stirrup-shaped grip, 
from which one of the ends is broken. The diameter of the base is 
6.5 by 7 cm., the height to the center of the handle is 7 cm., and the 
length of the handle when complete was about 11 cm. 

The second specimen (pl. 5, e) is roughly cylindrical with an en- 
larged base. The striking surface is 6.5 by 9 cm. in diameter, the 
grip 5.3 cm. in diameter, and the height 9.7 cm. Pestles of this type 
usually have a flange or even a smail peaked knob on top of the handle, 
but this specimen is simply finished off roughly, possibly after a break. 

The third pestle is simply a conveniently shaped boulder, polished 
from use. The striking surface is 9.5 by 4.5 cm. in diameter and the 
height 8 cm. 

Two fragments of what may have been pestles were found in the 
Daxatkanada midden. 


102 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


HAMMERSTONES, STRIKE-A-LIGHTS, FIRESTONES 


The 12 hammerstones found are simply rounded boulders or cobbles 
of chert, basalt, impure hematite, quartz, schist, etc. These weather 
out of the conglomerate and can be picked up on most of the beaches in 
Kootznahoo Inlet. Specimens showing use vary in diameter from 
6to13cm. One of these is a quartz block from which flakes have been 
struck. Eleven hammerstones (pl. 5, f) are from Daxatkanada 
midden, chiefly from the lower levels, and the twelfth is from the upper 
part of the Pillsbury Point midden. 

The natives identified the quartz specimens as stone for striking 
fire. Quartz (’m) could be obtained at Danger Point at the mouth of 
Kootznahoo Inlet and also at Point Gardner on the southern tip of 
Admiralty Island. A lump of quartz was struck against ‘“‘any kind of 
stone,” and the spark was caught on tinder made of red cedar bark 
(wit‘). Wax from the ear was put on one of the stones. Fire was 
also made with a strap drill operated by two men. The hearth and 
drill were of red cedar, and a wooden brace for the drill was held in the 
hand. For obvious reasons, no identifiable remains of the fire drill 
outfit were found. 

Many of the broken stones in the middens had evidently been used 
for cooking in watertight baskets. Such stones were called t‘z 
“rock,” or ’ina ‘something to cook with,’ a word usually applied to 
the wooden tongs with which the hot rocks were handled. To obtain 
a better draft, it was customary to rest the two main logs of a fire 
on a pair of rocks (gan-cayt-t‘nyt ‘firewood head-of rocks-of’’). 


WAR CLUB 


Little information was obtained about weapons. The warrior 
carried a picklike club (k‘étu), which was also a hunting weapon. 
He might also have a hunting knife or dagger, and a long spear with a 
knifelike blade. He was dressed in wooden slat armor and a wooden 
helmet, and his face was blackened to express his determination. 

What was apparently the stone head for a war club or pick (pl. 5, ¢) 
was found at the bottom of the Daxatkanada midden. It is of fine- 
grained crystalline rock. It has a pecked tang, 6.5 cm. long and oval 
in cross section, for insertion into the handle. The striking end is 
ground on both faces to produce a flattened diamond-shaped cross 
section. The point has been blunted by blows. The specimen is 
12 cm. long, with a maximum diameter of 4.8 by 3.8 cm. at the rear of 
the striking end. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 103 


VESSELS AND PAINT 
STONE DISHES AND POTTERY (?) 


A number of crude stone vessels were found in the midden on 
Daxatkanada. 

A large stone dish (pl. 4, a), possibly a lamp, is a roughly hollowed 
block of yellow-brown sandy shale, measuring 24 by 17 by 7.5 cm. 
It was lying, bowl side up, among a number of rocks near a hearthy 
layer. The circular bowl is about 13 cm. in diameter and 4 cm. deep. 

A small carved sandstone bowl (pl. 6, f), now broken, but possibly 
an oval lamp, was found near a hearth in the same part of the midden. 
The specimen was originally 8 or 9 cm. long and 5 or 6 cm. wide. The 
highest part of the rim is 2.5 cm. high, and the thickest part of the 
wall is 1.4 cm. thick, although the bottom is only 0.5 em. thick. 

There is also a broken sandstone cup (pl. 6, e), originally about 4 
cm. in diameter and 2 cm. high, with a depression about 2.5 cm. in 
diameter and 1.2 cm. in depth. <A smaller and cruder cup (pl. 6, d) 
is made of a roughly shaped yellow sandstone pebble, 4.5 by 3.5 cm. 
in diameter and 1.5 cm. thick. The round pit on one face is possibly 
of natural origin. 

A tiny piece of yellow sandstone, with what appears to be a drilled 
pit on one side, may be a toy. Two other fragments of red sandstone 
or sandy claystone have been hollowed into tiny bowls. In addition 
there is a tiny cup carved from claystone. It has been polished and 
the object subjected to heat so that it appears to have been baked. 

The last specimen recalls the curious passage by Livingston F. 
Jones: ‘Some years ago the women were skilled in making suck-a-chew 
(pottery). Scarcely a trace of this art can now be found. Like rope 
making, it has fallen into desuetude”’ (Jones, 1914, p. 78). One of 
our informants recognized the word as sak‘adjux (‘“‘clay rolled up’”’), 
which she translated as ‘‘potteries’ or ‘‘clay,”’ but she had never heard 
that the Tlingit knew how to make pottery. She failed to recognize 
that the small claystone cup and the red and brown paint stones 
(described below) had been baked. As a child, however, she made 
doll’s dishes out of clay. It was gray in color and was simply dried, 
not baked. The best clay came from Favorite Bay, just above Garnes’ 
Point and from the north shore of Kanalku Bay. 

It is impossible to identify the functions of these stone vessels. 
None of the Angoon natives had ever heard of stone lamps, although a 
man from Sitka said that in 1902 lamps were made of tin cans or dishes, 
with a rag for the wick and deer tallow or seal oil for fuel. The same 


460927—60——_8 


104 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


man described another type of lamp; this consisted of a “‘bottle’”’ cut 
from the hollow knobbed end of a kelp stalk, which was filled with 
seal oil. The rag wick was tied to a stick laid across the open top of 
the “bottle.” It is possible that the Angoon and Sitka people at one 
time used stone lamps, as did the Yakutat natives, but our vessels, 
however, show no signs of charring and so cannot be identified as lamps. 
On the other hand, some informants said that the large stone specimen 
was a dish (six) for serving food. 


PAINT 


A patch of powdered hematite was found in the midden at Pillsbury 
Point. It is not quite as bright as the paint on the whetstone from 
the same site (pl. 6, 6). There are probably several places where 
hematite in relatively pure form might be obtained; for example, a 
considerable amount was observed on the under surface of the natural 
bridge over the stream at Basket Bay. It seems to have been deposited 
here by water percolating through the rocks. 

Material for red paint was also obtained by burning or baking shale 
pebbles. We were informed that a reddish-brown stone was obtained 
between Wilson Cove and Whitewater Bay on Admiralty Island. It 
was dug out, burned, and ground up to form red paint (tex®), but our 
informant did not know how the pigment was mixed. Eighteen frag- 
ments of reddish baked shale, with ground and scraped surfaces, were 
found in the Daxatkanada midden. Some are very hard, a few soft 
enough to be used as pencils. They vary in consistency from very 
fine grained to sandy. Most are very small fragments, about 3 cm. 
long. If these pieces had been dipped in blood before being baked, 
that would probably increase the iron content and the redness of the 
resulting color, and such a practice would explain the almost universal 
tradition that pictographs were painted with slaves’ blood. It is 
obvious that the red color of these paintings was not due to blood alone. 
They appear to have been made with hematite mixed with grease or 
something similar. They are not affected by water, and can be momen- 
tarily brightened by light applications of kerosene, which fortunately 
does not remove any of the pigment. 

We also found three pieces of unbaked yellow shale, rubbed like 
pencils, and a pencillike object of yellow sandstone, possibly broken 
from a larger object. 

The natives also spoke of blue paint (neximt‘s) and black paint 
(tsakit, probably sAg”At, a preparation made from cedar bark or 
fungus to protect the face against sunburn). No examples of such 
blue or black paints were found. 


—————— are eee 


Eo 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 105 


ABRADING TOOLS 


A great many different types of abrading tools seem to have been 
used for finishing stone, bone, and wooden implements, since these 
were among the most numerous specimens found. 


STONE SAWS 


There are four stone saws which could have been used for cutting 
stone or bone. These were not identified by the natives who had 
never heard of such implements. Two specimens from Daxatkanada 
are of gritty marble, both 1 cm. thick, and have been smoothed on 
both surfaces as well as on the cutting edge. The smaller is 5.8 by 
3.5 cm.; the larger (pl. 7, 7), was originally over (11) cm. long and is 
6.6 cm. wide. ‘Two other saws are of sandstone and are also ground 
on both faces. The finer (pl. 7, g), a fragmentary specimen only 0.5 
em. thick, is from the midden at Sullivan Point; the larger, 0.8 cm. 
thick, is from Pillsbury Point. 


PUMICE 


A single lump of pumice (gaxq” or gaxq™), worn from use, was 
found at Daxatkanada. There is said to be a great deal of it near 
Sitka, where it was obtained from a place called gaxq*-’an ‘‘pumice 
town.”’ It was used to polish carvings. People, probably men or 
youths in training, used to rub themselves with volcanic stones as 
charms (danak”, literally ‘surface medicine.’’). 


WHETSTONES 


Most of the 31 whetstones are flat slabs of rock which have been 
ground on one surface. A few show grinding on both faces, and a 
few have been worn or shaped on the edges. Some of the finer 
grained specimens are actually polished from use. ‘The shapes are 
irregular and a number of the smaller specimens are doubtless frag- 
mentary. The largest is a sandstone slab measuring 19.5 by 9.5 by 
2.56 em. While a few have been ground slightly concave, no spec- 
imens were found with grooves for sharpening points or shaping rods. 
The most interesting specimen is a rectangular micaceous sandstone 
slab from Pillsbury Point on which red hematite has been ground 
(pl. 6, 6). The paint was identified by a middle-aged woman as that 
used for painting pictures (i. e. pictographs), not for use on the face. 

There are 12 other sandstone specimens, 11 from Daxatkanada and 
1 from Pillsbury Point. 

The natives told us that whereas such rough stones were used for 
sharpening adzes or bone points, special smooth slate-colored whet- 


106 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


stones were used for making mussel-shell knives. ‘This material was 
obtained from the Taku River, and was moistened for use. It was 
called yayénA, a word applied to one of our nine specimens of soft 
shale or claystone. Two of these slabs have such a fine polish that 
they might have served as mirrors when wet. One of these is from 
the midden at Pillsbury Point, as is a green slate specimen. The 
other eight specimens of soft rock are from Daxatkanada, mostly 
from the upper levels. 

There are also 5 whetstones of hard, fine-grained igneous rock, 
showing a high polish. In contrast to those made of soft shale, 3 of 
these were found at greater depths in the Daxatkanada midden, 
while the other two are from the upper levels at Daxatkanada and 
Pillsbury Point. 

Lastly, from Daxatkanada, there are three slender pencillike shale 
pebbles, 6.4 to 9 em. long, which could have served as whetstones. 


RUBBING TOOLS 


There are some 79 small implements of slate, shale, fine-grained 
sandstone, and even of marble, which appear to have been used for 
grinding or polishing softer materials such as wood or bone, probably 
in finishing grooved or carved objects. These occurred at all levels 
in the Daxatkanada midden, and one is from Pillsbury Point. Typi- 
cal examples range in length from 3.6 to 10 cm., and in width from 
0.8 to4cm. They are made from rather flat pebbles or from sections 
split from pebbles. The two longer edges, which may be curved or 
straight, are ground flat (dull), and one end is either rounded or 
bluntly pointed, less often chisel-shaped. On a very few specimens 
this end approaches a sharpened point or a sharpened edge. In 
some cases the grinding of the edges is the only shaping which the 
implement has received, but usually one surface has been ground 
flat. This surface, especially toward the point of the implement, 
has sometimes received a high polish from use. The opposite surface 
may be left rough, or may be more or less ground smooth, especially 
toward the point, and is flat, rounded, or slightly beveled. The 
erinding has evidently been done with a coarse-grained whetstone, 
for the worked surfaces are scratched, almost roughly whittled. 
Little care was taken in making these small tools, and the majority 
are snapped across the middle from rough handling. It is as if they 
had been quickly shaped for some particular purpose and then dis- 
carded. The range of forms is very great, even if only the most care- 
fully made specimens are considered. Natives to whom they were 
shown sometimes failed to recognize them as artifacts, or saw no 
difference between them and the slab whetstones. Some thought 
they were fragments of slate knives. One woman spoke of dolls, 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 107 


implying perhaps that they were used for making dolls. She had 
told us previously that her mother had made a doll’s head out of a 
marble pebble. Marble, like pumice, she added, was used for polishing 
stone and wood carvings. 

Nine specimens are relatively thick and stubby, with blunt rounded 
ends (pl. 7, a, 6). One of these has scratches on the rounded surface, 
suggestive of an incised design. In addition, a broken sandstone 
specimen of this type has an incised design on the flatter surface, 
suggestive of a conventionalized face (fig. 15, a). This suggests that 
such tools might sometimes be made or used for purposes other than 
polishing artifacts, perhaps as dolls, rubbing amulets, ete. 

Five additional fragmentary specimens, including two squared-off 
butt ends, probably should be classed with the stubby tools mentioned 
above. 

Somewhat longer, but with rounded ends, are five more specimens, 
the largest of which is an unfinished shale implement measuring 13 
by 4.5 by 1.5 cm. Six more specimens are flatter, but still have a 
rounded end. 

On five tools the end has become narrow, so that the edges tend to 
meet at an angle or point. The specimen remains broad and flat, and 
resembles an unfinished leaf-shaped weapon blade (pl. 7, c, d). 

The implement may become still narrower until true chisels are 
produced (pl. 7, f). There are five specimens in this group, which 
includes the single example from Pillsbury Point. 

On the other hand, the narrow end may be thinned by grinding 
from the rounded or faceted (upper) surface to produce a chisellike 
point, sharpened in the opposite plane from that of the last group. 
Six specimens are of this type (pl. 7, e, g, h). 

On 23 examples the thinning and beveling have produced shapes 
that may be described as knifelike, although the edge and point are 
rather dull. There are two subvarieties of this type. On the seven 
specimens of the first subtype there are a rather pointed end and a 
fairly pronounced asymmetric bevel, so that one edge is thicker than 
the other (pl. 7, 7). A rather thick and clumsy picklike implement of 
soft shale, measuring (8) by 3 by 2 cm., may be considered as the 
largest representative of this group. The second subtype of thinner 
or flatter knifelike tools with rounded points is represented by 16 
specimens including fragments (pl. 7, 7, x, 2). 

Two unusual specimens are still thinner and flatter, with rather 
sharp rounded ends. Another distinctive knifelike specimen with 
rounded end has been made from a split shale cobble and resembles 
the objects of hard rock described below as boulder chips. It meas- 
ures 8.5 by 4 cm. Both surfaces are rough, but the edges which were 


108 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


probably once sharp are now rubbed dull as if from use. The shape 
is that of a large ulo or ulolike scraper. 

Two other unusual specimens with rectangular sections have ovoid 
or faceted points, and could have been used for reaming or smoothing 
out holes (pl. 7, 0). 

Six fragments are broken from flat specimens with converging 
straight dull edges. One has the impression that the edges met at a 
relatively sharp angle, producing a chisellike variant of the leaf- 
shaped blade. 

There are, lastly, three small fragments on which only a dull rubbed 
edge has been preserved so that classification is impossible. 


UNFINISHED (?) OVAL STONE TOOLS 


There are six marble specimens ranging in length from 5 to 9 em. 
and in width from 4 to 5 em. They differ from the rubbing tools just 
described in that the edges are unworked except by rough chipping 
or battering, although one surface has been ground smooth. The 
thicker specimens may have been intended for rubbing tools (pl. 6, 
g, 7), while the three thinner ones with more carefully shaped edges 
could have been scrapers. They are all so crude that they appear to 
be unfinished, and identification of their function is impossible. 

These roughly chipped marble specimens are paralleled by 10 ovoid 
implements made of micaceous schist. All of the flaking has been 
done from one flat surface of the slab. This surface may be ground 
somewhat smooth or left rough. The ends are rounded or bluntly 
pointed, and may or may not show signs of rubbing. These specimens 
range in size from 5.8 by 2.6 to 11.5 by 7.8 cm. They appear to be 
unfinished blanks from which rubbing tools or scrapers were to have 
been made (pl. 6, h, 7, k). In addition, there is a similar schist artifact 
with a design incised on the flat surface (fig. 15, d). It is described 
under Incised Tablets. 

An oval greenstone pebble (pl. 7, n), 5.5 by 3.5 cm., has been 
chipped from one flat surface to produce a blunt point. This surface 
and the edges show signs of rubbing, suggesting that it may have 
served the same function as the rubbing tools of softer materials. 
It comes from Pillsbury Point. 

There is also a chipped slate blade from Daxatkanada (pl. 7, m) 
which appears to be an unfinished leaf-shaped rubbing tool (ef. pl. 7, 
c,d). Itisovoid, measuring 6 by 2.7 cm., with a pointed end and 
rounded butt, and has been shaped by chipping from one surface. 
This surface has been ground flat and the other partially smoothed, 
but the rather sharp edges are not ground. 

None of these implements was recognized as an artifact by our 
informants. The only reference we obtained to anything similar was 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 109 


a mention of beach pebbles used as dolls. The children shaped these 
by resting the pebble on a rock and hitting it with a hammerstone. 
This would probably result in all (or most) of the flaking being done 
from one surface, as on the oval tools. We could get no clear account 
of the shapes of these toys, however. 


KNIVES AND SCRAPERS 


The aboriginal knife (lit‘A ‘“‘cutting tool’’) used by men had a stone 
blade and a wooden handle, wrapped around with a cord. The 
hunter and warrior also carried a larger two-edged, and sometimes 
two-bladed dagger (djrxanat‘, literally ‘something near the hand’’; 
or gYAIA, from gal, “‘to strike with the fist’). At present, of course, 
ordinary pocket knives and hunting knives are used. Jn skinning 
and flensing seals, in removing blubber from the skins, and also in 
cutting fish, both men and women now use a butcher knife or an ulo. 

The ulo used by women has an iron blade. The handle may be of 
wood, or a grip may be formed by folding back the edge of the iron 
and winding it with a rag. Informants did not agree as to whether 
the wooden handle was ever made with a hole for the fingers, as it is 
at Yakutat. The only wooden handles we saw at Angoon were un- 
pierced. The aboriginal ulo was made of the shell of the large mussel 
(yis “‘shell’’), and the same word is applied to the modern iron ulo. 
These mussel-shell knives were about 4 inches long, sharp on one 
edge, and were used by the women for cutting fish as well as for 
skinning seals and other game. 

A beaming tool of bone for working skins is still in use, or a butcher 
knife held in both hands may be substituted. The women also use a 
long-handled scraper with a small spoonlike iron blade to soften 
skins when they are stretched in a frame. In earlier days the blade 
was of greenstone. 

WOODEN HANDLES 


Three fragments of grooved or slotted wood that might have been 
handles for knives were found at Daxatkanada. 


SLATE BLADES 


There are very few slate or shale specimens which appear to have 
served as knives, perhaps because the natives at Daxatkanada already 
had metal tools. 

Two pieces of slate, one smoothed on one surface with one straight 
(sawed?) edge, the other smoothed on both surfaces, may be frag- 
ments of ulo blades, but the cutting edges are missing. They were 
among the stones lining a depression at the bottom of the midden 
on the saddle. From the very bottom of the midden close by there 


110 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


is a crude slate ulo or knife with a blunt straight back and a curved 
sharp edge. It is 9.5 em. long and only 2 cm. wide. Another crude 
ulo was made of a naturally sharp slab of slate, 8.5 cm. long and 
4.5 em. wide (pl. 7, p). There is also a shale slab with a partially 
sharpened straight edge, like a chisel or plane. It is similar to the 
knives made of sharp pieces of shale which appear to be common at 
the site on Mole Harbor on the other side of Admiralty Island. 

A thin fragment of shale with a cut or sawed edge from Pillsbury 
Point, a fragment of slate which has been smoothed on one side 
from Sullivan Point, and a thin rectangular flake of slatey schist 
with worn edges from the bottom of the Daxatkanada midden may 
also be fragments of knives. 

A thin chisellike slate blade, possibly for a scraper, has an incised 
design on one side consisting of several parallel lines (fig. 15, f). (See 
Incised Tablets, pp. 122-125). 


SHELL IMPLEMENTS 


A fragment of a large mussel-shell knife, probably an ulo, was 
found at Pillsbury Point (pl. 9, 7). The shell is that of the large 
mussel, Mytilus californiensis. A bluntly cut end meets the naturally 
sharp edge of the shell at a right angle. 

From Daxatkanada are a clamshell implement with dull edges, a 
blue mussell shell ground flat across the hinged end, and a large 
clamshell through which a hole has been punched from the outside. 


BOULDER CHIPS 


There are four oval flakes, made by splitting cobbles or small 
boulders of hard rock so as to form a blunt handgrip and a sharper 
curved working edge. This edge shows signs of wear, as if these 
artifacts had served as scrapers, choppers, or knives. The specimens 
vary in length from 5.8 to 8.5 cm, and in width from 1.8 to6 cm. In 
addition, there are a thin flake split from a basalt cobble which shows 
signs of wear and a large flake or boulder chip of sandy shale. The 
latter is 10 by 6 by 2.5 cm., and has a sharp edge, worn from use. 


FLAKES AND CORES 


From Daxatkanada midden there are nine flakes and cores made 
from chert pebbles, but only one of these shows signs of use. This 
is a green chert core, 4 by 3 by 2 cm, the sharp wedgelike end of which 
is dulled as if it had been used as a chisel or scraper. The other eight 
fragments are too irregularly shaped to have been serviceable. Since 
no chipped implements of chert were found it is hard to understand 
for what purpose these pebbles were broken. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY Lil 


In addition, there are also a small quartz chip and a block of 
quartz which has been cracked by blows. 

A long blade of basalt has sharp edges and a rounded chisellike end, 
but shows no signs of wear. A basalt core and a massive flake struck 
from such a core (pl. 6, J) came from the deeper levels of the 
Daxatkanada midden. Both show the effects of heavy blows. 


SEA MAMMAL HUNTING WEAPONS 


According to our informants, harpoons were used in hunting harbor 
seals, fur seals, and sea otters, and also for spearing fish. Sea otter 
are said to have been hunted off Sitka, not near Angoon. This state- 
ment can refer only to a relatively recent period, for there were more 
sea otter bones in the middens at Daxatkanada and Pilsbury Point 
than bones of any other animal. The natives also told us that they 
used to eat whales and sea lions, but did not know how to kill them. 
However, the famous story of ‘“‘Black-skin” (Swanton, 1909, Tale 32, 
p. 149) not only involves a sea lion hunt,{but the cure of a wounded 
sea lion by cutting out the barbed harpoon point in its side. 

Two types of harpoon head were identified by our informants. The 
first is a toggle head (déna) made of two pieces of bone. This was 
supposed to be the better kind because the harpooned seal could not 
tear it out. The head apparently fitted directly over the tapered end 
of the wooden shaft without an intermediate bone foreshaft or socket 
piece. The second, more common type of head (k‘at‘) was a barbed 
point with tang for insertion into the socket or slit in the end of the 
wooden shaft (ada), not into a bone socket piece. Specimens in recent 
use were of iron or copper, usually with barbs on both edges. 

The harpoon head was fastened to the shaft by means of a sealskin 
line. According to one informant, this line was attached to the end 
of the shaft, and even when spearing salmon the whole harpoon was 
thrown. It was retained in the hand only when spearing trout. 
According to another man, the line from the head of the seal harpoon 
was attached to the middle of the shaft, so that the latter would tend 
to pull crosswise through the water when the seal was struck and the 
head detached from the shaft, but all informants denied a martingale 
rig. A running line connected the butt end of the shaft to an inflated 
seal stomach that served as a buoy. With this harpoon seals might 
be speared on the rocks, or taken from a canoe in which one man acted 
as harpooner and a companion as paddler. 

Wounded seals were dispatched with a club, or might be hunted on 
the rocks with a club alone. A hunter, or his companion, might lure 
them by imitating the movements and noises of a seal. While the use 
of a sealskin as a disguise was denied by one man, another said that as 
a boy he had helped his father by acting as a decoy covered with a 


112 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


gunny sack. The club (xus) was made of hard wood (gaq”‘) from the 
heart of the spruce, and was said to have been 5 to 6 feet long [!?], 
“because seals are mean.”’ 

Sea otter were hunted in the open sea by fleets of canoes, each carry- 
ing two to four men, that surrounded the animal. This method is one 
that was evidently introduced by the Russians and their Aleut and 
Pacific Eskimo hunters. The sea otter was struck by many arrows. 
These arrows were said not to have been harpoon arrows, although the 
heads were detachable. They were declared to be the same kind of 
arrows as those used for hunting land animals. Surprising though 
this statement is, it is in part supported by our failure to find any small 
barbed harpoon heads, such as were used by the Yakutat, Pacific 
Eskimo, and Aleut for sea otter harpoon arrows. The arrowheads 
used at Angoon were said to have been marked, and all the hunters 
that struck the animal received a share (presumably of the sales price). 
No feathers were used on the arrow shaft; this was an Athabaskan 
device. The archeological evidence would suggest that at Daxat- 
kanada sea otter were taken with ordinary harpoons like those used 
for seals. 

TOGGLE HARPOON HEADS 


Three halves of toggle harpoon heads made in two parts were found. 
These are of bone, varying length from 5.1 to over (6.5) cm., and in 
width from 1.1 to1.5cm. Just below the point on all three specimens 
is a small shoulder on the outer rounded surface to hold the lashing 
which fastened the two halves of the head together, and on the inner 
flat surface there is a narrow shallow groove for a blade. A stain on 
one specimen from Daxatkanada (pl. 8, b) suggests that the blade was 
of iron. This head has a sharp spur; the spur on a second specimen 
from the site is blunt (pl. 8, c); that on the third from Pillsbury Point 
is missing. On all, the inner surface is slightly hollowed toward the 
butt to form the socket for the fore-end of the harpoon shaft. 


BARBED HARPOON HB&ADS 


Detachable barbed heads with tang and line hole were more numer- 
ous, being represented by 22 specimens or fragments. These are all 
large, like those seen in recent use on salmon spears. The only two 
complete specimens are 11.8 cm. long, and others presumably varied 
in length between 10 and 13 cm. They are all barbed on one edge with 
from two to four barbs. The butts are rounded in outline and are 
narrowed from both surfaces to form wedge-shaped tangs. The line 
holes on 7 out of the 9 specimens on which they are preserved are cut, 
being oval, rectangular, or semicircular. On the other two, the line 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 113 


holes were made with a mechanical drill. The hole is almost invariably 
centered in the middle of the tang. The materials of which these heads 
are made is whale bone or compact leg bone, probably of the deer. 

Two large whale bone specimens from Hood Bay Fort (pl. 8, k) and 
from Daxatkanada (pl. 8, 7) are similar in style. Both have semicir- 
cular line holes, curved on the side toward the barbed edge and straight 
on the other. On the Hood Bay specimen deeply cut grooves continue 
the outline of the two barbs upward across the head; on the second a 
similar groove runs up from the line hole. It probably also had similar 
decorations associated with the barbs, but the fore-end is missing. A 
second complete whale bone head from Daxatkanada (pl. 8, n) has two 
barbs and an oval line hole. <A fragment of a similar but smaller head 
was found under a rock in the lowest part of the midden. A whale bone 
head (pl. 8, A) from the same site was broken below one barb and was 
recut with a new oval line hole above the barb. There were originally 
at least two barbs. 

Two specimens, also from the lower part of the midden, are of 
animal leg bone and have large rectangular line holes. The first 
(pl. 8, m) is broken across the lowest barb, and is the widest specimen 
in the collection, being 2.7 cm. in width. The line hole was made by 
joining two drilled holes. The second (pl. 8, 2) originally had a narrow 
oval line hole, but the tang was broken off and a new line hole was then 
cut opposite the lower of the two barbs. The head is now 8.8 cm. 
long. A broken specimen from the site which originally had two barbs 
(pl. 8,2) has two drilled holes set rather high up on the tang, near the 
barbed edge. Perhaps it had been intended to connect them to form 
a large rectangular hole. Both butt and point, however, have been 
shattered by blows. The barbs were cut with a sharp tool, probably a 
metal knife. In addition, there is the butt end of a head with a 
medial drilled hole. 

The remaining specimens lack the butt ends. One (pl. 8, d) had 
at least four barbs that had been cut with a very narrow sharp blade, 
probably of iron. Another (pl. 8, g) is the fore-end of a head with four 
barbs made from a flat strip of bone, and part of a similar head was 
found in the midden below the fort at Hood Bay. There are three 
other broken specimens from Daxatkanada (pl. 8, e, f), one from Pills- 
bury Point, and a fragment with two barbs from the beach below the 
fort at Chaik Bay. There are also 4 barbs broken from such heads, 3 
from Daxatkanada, and 1 from Pillsbury Point. A broken barbed 
point from Daxatkanada was recut as a bone pin. 

What appears to have been a fragment of a barbed harpoon head 
made of wood was found in a large posthole in the subsoil under the 
Daxatkanada midden. 


114 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


LAND ANIMAL HUNTING WEAPONS 


Deadfalls (yéx or sin) of various types were used for bear, land 
otter, mink, and beaver. Some were set across the animal’s trail 
(dé-ktandx-yanct “trail-across-to hunt’’), and others were baited 
(yanaq’*-sEt* ‘‘bait-place’’). One style of deadfall was the ‘figure 
four” trap (tayéx, probably referring to ta “plank’’). Snares (dasa) 
were used for deer and bear, and boys used small snares to trap gulls 
and bluejays. Pitfalls were not made, except by children in play. 

Deer and bear were hunted with the help of trained dogs. The 
hunter might, like the warrior, carry a picklike club, or a spear 
(tsagAl’). The shaft was over 6 feet in length, and the double-edged 
knifelike blade was about 12 inches long. Bears were also shot with 
bows and arrows from “nests” (ktut*) or platforms built in trees above 
their trails. 

The most common weapon used in hunting was the bow and arrow 
(saqs). The bowstring was said to have been made of rawhide cut 
from a seal’s belly and thoroughly stretched, although it is more 
probable that it was made of sinew. The arrows had a plain un- 
feathered wooden shaft (tctnét'). The heads (Laqt) were of hard 
wood or bone, with a tang which was set into the fore-end of the shaft. 
The end of the shaft bulged to prevent the arrow from penetrating 
too deeply, so that the shaft would fall to the ground, leaving the 
head in the wound. These heads are said never to have been barbed, 
however, but were marked with grooves to indicate ownership. The 
ordinary arrowhead was 4 inches long, but that used for bear meas- 
ured 6 inches. There were also practice arrows with large blunt heads 
(gau’). Arrows were carried in a skin quiver (daked1). 

The hunter also carried a whip sling (djux*a), consisting of a 
wooden handle to which was attached a cord with a knotted end. The 
dart was called by the same name as the ordinary arrow, and had two 
notches into either of which the knotted end of the whip could be 
fitted. The notch nearer the fore-end was used for long-range shots. 
The detachable point was barbed and had a socket into which the dart 
shaft fitted. This point was made from a deer joint and was called 
saq* or “‘bone.’”’ A single feather might be attached to the shaft to 
make the dart easier to spot. Such darts were used for deer or bear. 

A deer call was made of a bunchberry leaf held between the lips or 
between two hollowed sticks to make a whistle. 

The hunter also had a hunting knife or dagger, as described under 
Knives. 


BARBED POINTS 


From Pillsbury Point there is one complete slender barbed point 
with conical tang and seven unilateral barbs, outlined by a pair of 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 115 


bordering grooves (pl. 8, a). It was probably an arrowhead, even 
though our informants denied that they were ever barbed. A small 
notch in the tang, which resembles the remains of an eighth barb, 
suggests that the specimen was recut from a longer point. <A decora- 
tive line down the edge opposite the row of barbs may have been cut 
with a steel knife. The specimen is 12.7 cm. long and 1.2 by 0.7 
cm. in diameter. 

Three fragments of points with one, two, and three barbs respec- 
tively, but lacking decorative lines, may be parts of barbed arrow- 
heads or barbed harpoon heads. These are all from Daxatkanada. 


UNBARBED ARROWHEADS 


A flat slender specimen of bone, pointed at both ends, one of which 
is slightly roughened as if for hafting, may be an arrowhead (pl. 9, w). 
It is 16 cm. long, 1.2 cm. wide, and 0.3 cm. thick. <A fragment of a 
similar object and a broken faceted bone point (pl. 9, m) may also 
be parts of arrowheads. <A broken bone rod (pl. 9, v) may be an 
unfinished arrowhead. These are all from Daxatkanada midden. 
On the flat below the fort at Hood Bay was found a long, slender 
implement, made of animal leg bone, tapered and flattened as if for 
hafting, which may have been the tang of an arrowhead. 


BONE SPEARS OR DAGGERS 


An antler dagger or spear point from Daxatkanada (pl. 9,7) is 
faceted on the outer surface. The broken rear end appears to have 
been roughened by hacking for attachment to a handle. The speci- 
men is (20.5) em. long, 2.4 em. wide, and 1.8 cm. thick. 

The butt end of a heavy bone implement (pl. 9, s), with scarfed 
tang and a knob on the convex edge, may be broken from a spear 
point or pick. It is 2 cm. in diameter and comes from the bottom of 
the midden. Another butt end of a bone implement (pl. 9, ¢), roughly 
rectangular in section with a hole cut near one edge, may also be part 
of a dagger. 

FISHING GEAR 


Most salmon were, of course, taken in traps (cal). These were 
boxes made of sticks or pieces of slit wood, set either across a water- 
fall or placed in the opening of a fence across a stream. The arms of 
the trap were called cal-djmi ‘‘trap arms-of,” the posts to which trap 
and fence were attached were called x*elt, and a tongue-shaped ramp 
that forced the salmon to slide back into the trap was called xét‘- 
qeqrdjA “salmon-director.” Although a variety of models of such 
traps were described, they were all made so that the water in the floor 
of the trap was too shallow to permit the fish to swim or jump out. 


116 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


The funnel-shaped trap (gate or gak*tc) was said to have been used 
only by the Chilkat. 

Salmon were also trapped by the falling tide above stone weirs 
(ut), built across the mouths of streams. Rows of pointed stakes 
were also set up in similar localities on which the fish impaled them- 
selves when trying to jump. These stakes were called ndéxak‘at‘dn 
(evidently derived from k‘a ‘‘on” and t‘an ‘jump’’). 

Fish were also taken in nets of spruce or of baleen. The latter are 
described as from 30 to 40 fathoms long. The baleen from one whale 
was enough to make 2 or 3 fathoms of net. 

Salmon were both harpooned and gaffed. The harpoon was the 
same as that used for seals. The gaffhook for fish (kéxA) was made 
of a steamed and bent piece of hard woed (presumably attached to a 
wooden shaft). Although no bone barbs for gaffs were mentioned, 
some archeological specimens described below may have had such a 
function. The only place, however, where salmon were gaffed or 
speared at night from canoes carrying torches was said to be in Nak- 
wasina Passage near Sitka, the scene of the Salmon Boy story, where 
the hero’s miraculous adventures seemed to confer supernatural 
sanction on tbis method of fishing. A gaffhook (t‘éna) was used for 
devilfish. Only the Chilkat used a two- or three-pronged leister or 
fish spear (LégwaA). 

Cod, shark, and halibut were taken with hook and line. The hook 
(q6sqasé) for cod was a simple V-shaped hook with straight (?) 
wooden shank and a barb made of a bone pin. The halibut hook 
(nAX”) is much larger, with an alderwood shank carved to represent 
some mythological personage, animal, or object, from which the hook 
receives its personal name. These names are said to belong to sibs, 
yet new designs and names are still being invented. The barb is a 
stout point of iron, presumably of bone in former times. To the 
shank where the barb is attached are fastened some pieces of light 
wood (red cedar, or at present cork) to make the hook float clear of 
the bottom. The bait is a piece of devilfish (ndq*’‘). Hooks are used 
in pairs. They are attached to lines formerly made of twisted spruce 
root or of fine braided skin (sinew?), and were weighted with unshaped 
stones. Two floats are attached: one (k‘atsis) is of red cedar carved 
in the shape of a duck or gull; the second is an inflated seal stomach 
(tsi yuwt). A club or spear was used to kill large fish when hooked. 

Salmon and small fish when caught were strung on a line by means 
of an eyed needle made of hard wood, a little over a foot long. The 
name given for this needle was simply that for heartwood. 

Herring were and still are caught with a fish rake (xftA). ‘This is 
an oar-shaped implement about 15 feet or more long, at present 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY LEZ 


armed along one edge of the blade with about 40 teeth made from 
nails. In earlier times these teeth were of copper or bone. 


DOUBLE-POINTED BONE PINS 


There are 17 pins from Daxatkanada midden, made of hard animal 
or bird bone, and pointed at both ends (pl.9,atog). They range in 
length from 3.5 to 8.4 cm., with the majority about 5 or 6 cm. long, 
and 0.5 cm. in diameter. One end, presumably the butt, is more 
abruptly tapered than the other, but both are sharp. They could 
have been used as barbs for cod hooks or halibut hooks, and the 
larger ones may have been gorges or the teeth for herring rakes. 
However, all sharp pins or splinters of bone were identified by our 
informants as awls. 

In addition to the 17 complete specimens, there are 7 points which 
appear to have been broken from similar pins. Of these, 2 are from 
Pillsbury Point. 

BIRD-BONE POINTS 


There are nine pointed splinters of bird bone, made of sawed strips 
or simply of broken pieces, unworked except at the points. These are 
probably barbs for fishhooks. Since the butt ends are not shaped it 
is impossible to tell whether or not these specimens are broken. 
Some are over 6 cm. long. Eight are from Daxatkanada (pl. 9, 7), 
and one fron Pillsbury Point (pl. 9, 7). In addition, a bird-bone 
point, 4.3 by 0.6 cm., with three small barbs on one edge (pl. 9, /) 
may also be part of a fishhook. Two thin strips of bird bone may 
have been broken from bird-bone points. 


BARBS FOR GAFF HOOKS 


Four points of hard bone, apparently bear penis bone, seem to 
be barbs for gaff hooks. The butts of three are thinned or pointed; 
that of the fourth is squared off. Presumably they were inserted 
into holes in a wooden handle. They are from 7.7 to over 9 cm. 
long (pl. 9, 2). 

A piece of animal rib, 6 cm. long, with thinned butt and pointed 
end, may also be a barb for a hook or gaff (pl. 9, k). 


MISCELLANEOUS BONE POINTS 


Three pins made of flat strips or splinters of bone, sharp at one end 
and blunt at the other, may be either barbs or awls. They vary in 
length from 6 to 8.4 cm. In addition, there is also the butt of what 
was probably a similar pin, and a broken barbed harpoon head that 
was recut asa pin. A point made of asharpened splinter of bone was 
found in a deposit of fish bones and may be part of a fishhook. 


118 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


BONE TOOLS 
AWLS AND DRILLS 


Before steel needles were obtained, bone awls (q‘énA or t'axal’) 
were used for sewing. 

For making holes in wood a hand drill with a bone bit was used. 
The butt was flattened off at the end and set into a round stick. 
The drill was rotated between the palms of the hands. 

We found only four specimens which could be identified as awls 
or drills. One awl is made of an unsplit bird bone, another is an ani- 
mal ulna, and a third, from Pillsbury Point, is made of an unsplit 
animal leg bone. The fourth is a fragment of a bone drill or awl with 
a detached conical point. In addition, 5 broken bone points may be 
fragments of awls. 

Two slender bone pins, only 0.3 cm. in diameter, and very care- 
fully polished, may be parts of awls or bodkins. They are (6) and 
(7.3) cm. long (pl. 9 w, 2). 


BEAVER-TOOTH CHISELS 


There are three chisels made of beaver incisors which would 
have served admirably for cutting holes or slots. Two are from 
Daxatkanada (pl. 9, 0, p), the third from Pillsbury Point (pl. 9, q). 


WORKED BONE 


Bone was apparently worked by splitting, sawing, chipping, and 
cutting, and bone artifacts were finished by grinding. Five pieces 
of bone from Daxatkanada midden have cuts suggestive of a steel 
knife; three others have broad, dull cuts suggesting the use of stone 
tools. These apparently come from all levels of the midden. 

Not only were finished articles of whale bone found, but there 
are fragments of worked whale or sea lion bone, 16 from Daxatkanada 
and 1 from Pillsbury Point. These are relatively small slabs and rod- 
shaped pieces. No large bones of whales, either worked or unworked, 
were represented. There is, in addition, a small wedge-shaped piece 
of whale bone, with battered butt, (3) by 1.2 by 0.4 cm., which re- 
sembles the small wedges which we use to tighten the handle in an 
ax head. It comes from Daxatkanada, but its function is unknown. 

Eighteen animal leg bones, chiefly deer metapodials, have been 
sawed into strips. These are all from Daxatkanada, except for one 
from Pillsbury Point and another from Sullivan Point. 

Thirteen other fragments of animal bone showing sawing and 
cutting are from Daxatkanada, and four from Pillsbury Point. 

Two rather oval slabs of cut animal leg bone from Daxatkanada 
look like blanks from which small barbed harpoon heads were to have 
been cut. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 119 


A fragment of animal leg bone, probably split for the marrow, 
shows fine scratches or knife marks. 

There are also a few pieces of cut bird bone. Two are the articu- 
lations cut from the ends of large bones, probably in making tubes 
or beads, a third is a fragment of a bird-bone tube with scratches. 
Three pieces cut from bird breast bones appear to have been much 
handled. One has a dull worn edge, another has a slot cut at one 
end, and the third is pointed. There are also four strips of bird bone, 
one of which was found at Pillsbury Point, which are possibly frag- 
ments of bird-bone points. 


ORNAMENTS 


It is impossible to make a sharp distinction between ornaments 
and amulets, since the same object, in certain cases, may serve both 
a decorative and a magical or religious function. Archeological spec- 
imens which might fall into either class comprise pendants, beads, 
labrets, nose pins, bone carvings, stone inlays, copper objects, scratch- 
ing stones (?), and incised tablets. Some ethnological information 
was obtained about these. 

Tooth pendants were sometimes worn on a cord around the neck 
and were used as scratchers. A bear tooth might be “‘fixed’’ (made 
into a pendant? charmed?) by a shaman, and when worn around the 
neck was considered good medicine to ward off sickness. Other 
amulets supplied by doctors were made of stone. Tooth pendants 
were also worn by men and women as ear ornaments. High-class 
people might have three holes in the helix and a fourth in the lobe of 
the ear. The holes were sometimes made with porcupine quills. 
Men wore sea otter teeth, mounted in silver, as earrings. Earrings 
were called guk**-’at* or guk**-k‘adjac. 

It was suggested that the beads (kAwtit) made of small bird bones, 
the small stone beads, and the tooth pendants might have come from 
a shaman’s necklace. One informant, however, suggested that the 
small stone beads had been worn by a high-class woman. 

We found no dentalia (t‘Axxé), but were told that they were worn 
around the neck, or ornamented clothing on the shoulders, body, and 
legs. The same word was also given for a white “‘stone” (?), found 
in the water and used to inlay dishes and boxes (opercula ?). 

High-class people also used to wear nose ornaments (finMs) at 
dances. 

The labrets which we found aroused the most interest. Such or- 
naments were worn only by aristocratic women. The hole, like that 
for the nose ornament, was made with a bear claw, and the first small 
labret was probably inserted just after the girl emerged from her 

460927—60-—_9 


120 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


puberty confinement (although this could not be verified). As the 
hole was stretched, larger labrets were inserted. Our informants had 
seen or heard only of bone or wooden labrets, and believed that our 
stone specimens must have been worn by very high-class, elderly 
women “who had proved themselves.” The reason for wearing 
labrets was asserted to be to prevent the women from gossiping, since 
women caused wars through idle talk about matters which were not 
their business. The labret was both a sign of wisdom and a re- 
minder to keep quiet. The labret was called xentaxa (from Xa 
“mouth’’) and qanux (possibly xa-nux ‘“mouth-shell’’?). The 
larger labret was xagaq” or xakaq” (possibly xXa-qak” ‘“mouth- 
wide’’?), and some might be 2 inches long. 


PENDANTS 


There are four pendants made of animal teeth. Three of these, 
including one from Pillsbury Point, seem to be sea otter canines, 
grooved around the roots for suspension (pl. 10, a, b, c). The 
fourth is a sea lion tooth with a drilled hole at the root (pl. 10, d). 

There is also a sea otter molar on which the roots have been ground 
down (pl. 10, m). It may also have been an ornament, although we 
do not know how it was worn. 

The left half of the mandible of a young bear, with an incompletely 
erupted canine, has a drilled hole at the base of the ramus (pl. 10, 
hh). It may have been an amulet, worn as a pendant. 

A well-made pendant of ivory, probably obtained from a tooth, is 
3.1 cm. long and 1.2 cm. in diameter (pl. 10, f). For suspension 
there is a fine groove about a tiny knob at one end. The pendant 
is flattened on four sides, each of which bears a double row of drilled 
pits. There are 10 pits on three sides, and 9 (evidently an error) on 
the fourth. Some of these still contain traces of red paint. One pit 
is surrounded by a faint but mechanically perfect circle, indicating 
that the implement used to make the decoration had two prongs, 
probably of metal, and suggesting that the compass-drawn dot-and- 
circle, here produced by accident, was employed as a decorative ele- 
ment in other designs. The specimen comes from the bottom of the 
Daxatkanada midden. 

Two thin, slightly curved strips of bone may have been used as 
ornaments. One has a small drilled hole at one end and a medial 
line down one side, and may have been a pendant. It is 4.8 cm. 
long and 0.8 cm. wide (pl. 10, 7). The other is broken at one end 
and notched at the other (pl. 10, 2). 

A rectangular pendant, 7 by 1.7 cm., is made from a section of a 
large barnacle, and is notched at the narrower end for suspension 
(pl. 10, e). 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY Wa 


There is, lastly, asmall pendant of tan shale, now represented only 
by a fragment. There was a drilled hole at one rounded end; the 
other is missing. Incised lines on one side make a checkerboard 
pattern. 

BEADS 


A bead (pl. 10, x), measuring 1.4 by 1.2 cm., has been made from 
the central part of a large tooth, probably a bear canine, from which 
the tip and root have been cut, leaving the nerve canal to serve as a 
hole for stringing. The tip broken from a bear canine (pl. 10, g) and 
the root sawed from a similar tooth (pl. 10, h) illustrate the process 
of manufacture. 

There are two complete and one broken disk-shaped beads made of 
tan shale (pl. 10, 0, p, gq). These vary from 1 to 1.5 cm. in diameter 
and have asymmetrically drilled holes. Three broken specimens, 
3 to 3.3 cm. in diameter, are not only much larger but much cruder, 
and may have been amulets rather than ornaments. Two are of yellow 
sandstone or sandy shale (pl. 10, cc), and the third is of limestone 
(pl. 10, dd). A roughly shaped disk of white marble (pl. 10, ee), 
chipped from both sides, has a shallow drilled pit on one surface and is 
probably an unfinished bead or amulet like the last specimen. It is 
4 cm. in diameter and 1.4 cm. thick. It was tentatively identified by 
our informants as a scratching stone used by adolescent girls. 

There are a few bird-bone tubes that were probably used as beads. 
The most carefully polished specimen is only 0.9 cm. long and comes 
from the bottom of the midden at Pillsbury Point (pl. 10, t). Three 
other specimens, 3.8 to 4.1 cm. long (pl. 10, v, w, z), and two fragments 
of what may have been similar beads, came from Daxatkanada. 

There is a highly polished tubular bead of jet (pl. 10, «), 1.5 em. long 
and 0.7 cm. in diameter, with a hole evenly drilled from one end. One 
has the impression that the drill must have been of metal. A lump of 
cannel coal showing grinding was found in the Daxatkanada midden, 
and an unworked lump of the same material was picked up on the 
beach opposite Sullivan Point near the waterfall which supplied 
drinking water for that settlment. The material was probably derived 
from the soft-coal beds at Sullivan Point. 


LABRETS 


There are three labrets, all, as was to be expected, of the “‘medial”’ 
type to be worn below the middle of the lower lip. The first (pl. 10, 66) 
from Daxatkanada, is of light-green soapstone or badly weathered 
steatite, concave on both surfaces, the outer face being especially dish 
shaped. It is oval in outline with a deep groove around the edge, and 
measures 3.6 by 3 cm. in diameter and 1.1 cm. in thickness. The 
second (pl. 10, 2) is also an oval labret of greenish steatite. The outer 


122 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


surface is flat, and is both shorter and broader than the inner flange. 
The maximum measurements are 2.8 by 1.9 cm. in diameter, and 2.1 
cm. in thickness. The third (pl. 10, aa), from the bottom of the midden 
on top of the Hood Bay fort, is a circular labret made of shale, baked 
dark red after carving. The outer stud is cone shaped, and rises to a 
small point 2 cm. high. There is a rather wide but shallow groove 
around the edge, and the inner surface is flat. 

From Daxatkanada, an oval-rectangular piece of shale, 4.5 by 2.1 
cm., may possibly be an unfinished labret. The edges and both sur- 
faces have been whittled smooth, and on one side a small depression 
has been gouged out. 


NOSE PIN (?) 


A broken bone pin (pl. 10, &) with a T-shaped end may possibly 
have been an ornament worn in the nose. There is a shallow groove 
at the base of the cross bar, as if something had once been attached 
here. The specimen is now (3.6) cm. long and 1 cm. wide at the end. 


STONE DISKS 


Two disks made of micaceous slatey schist may have been used as 
ornamental inserts, perhaps as eyes in wood carvings. One (pl. 10, 7) 
is roughly chipped out and is 1.8 cm. in diameter; the other (pl. 10, s) 
is half of a more carefully made specimen with ground surfaces and 
edges, and originally measured 3.5 cm. in diameter. 

A tiny chip of bright-blue tale was probably also part of an ornament 
or inlay. 

BONS CARVING 


A broken piece of what appears to be the flipper bone of a large sea 
mammal (sea lion?) bears broad, shallow grooves, evidently part of a 
flowing curvilinear design (p]. 10, y). Too little of the specimen re- 
mains for the decoration to be deciphered, although it would appear to 
be in ordinary Northwest Coast style. 


AMULETS 


INCISED TABLETS 


From Daxatkanada there are a number of roughly shaped slabs or 
pebbles bearing very crudely incised designs on one or both faces. 
The lines are so fine that it is only with the greatest difficulty that the 
patterns can be seen, and I am indebted to Laura Knipe, formerly an 
undergraduate at Bryn Mawr College, for sketches of these specimens. 
The designs are hardly more than scribbles composed chiefly of 
straight lines and do not suggest in any way the classic Northwest 
Coast art style. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 123 


Our informants identified them tentatively as scratching stones 
used by adolescent girls. A middle-aged woman reported that she 
had once seen such a stone with a picture of a bear on it. It was tied 
with a string so that it could be hung from the girl’s neck. She gave 
the name for such a stone as ctéyuduwatigi t'& (probably cdayu- 
wuduwat*'iy! t's “stone for scratching one’s self”’?), It will be remem- 
bered that pieces of pumice were used as rubbing amulets, presumably 
by others than adolescent girls. Stone amulets were said to have 
been made by doctors. The pitted marble disk (pl. 10, ee) was 
identified as “medicine” for rubbing the arms and legs, and was 
called daxAsa (from da “surface”, and xag ‘‘to scrape’). A smooth 
grooved pebble, described below, was said to have been used to 
scratch any itchy place on the body and to rub across the lips. While 
we were unable to obtain any further information at Angoon, the 
Tlingit at Yakutat reported that such pebbles were used by adolescent 
girls, widows, and peace hostages to scratch themselves, since it was 
taboo to use the fingers. They also rubbed their lips with such 
stones as ritual insurance against uttering words that might lead 
to war.” Some of these stones were pierced for suspension, as were 
the stone amulets given by some shamans to their patients. We 
cannot, however, be certain of the function of any of the grooved, 
pitted, pierced, or incised stone specimens. 

Among the incised stone specimens, we have already mentioned 
a slate chisellike blade (fig. 15, f) which has faint transverse lines in 
pairs across one surface. Other longitudinal scratches and pits are 
probably the result of use. We also mentioned a broken sandstone 
rubbing tool (fig. 15, a) from the top of Daxatkanada Island, on which 
were gouges and scratches suggestive of a face. Two pairs of curved 
lines and the end indicate brows; two straight transverse lines seem 
to represent the closed eyes; vertical lines below these outline a broad 
nose and suggest face painting. Faint gouges appear to indicate 
the lip below the nose. The third incised stone specimen already 
described was a small shale pendant with a checkerboard design. 
Of these three, the design on the rubbing tool is most similar to the 
patterns incised on the four stone tablets described below. 

The first of these tablets (fig. 15, d) is oval-rectangular in outline, 
measuring 10 by 3.3 cm, and has been roughly chipped from a slab of 
green micaceous schist. It resembles the poorly shaped oval im- 
plements described as unfinished rubbing tools or scrapers. On the 
smoother surface is a lightly imcised design that extends from the 
narrower end over two-thirds of the length of the slab. It consists 
of two rectangular panels, outlined by single lines. One is filled 


23 Drucker, 1950, Trait p. 1141, 276, reports that the Chilkat rubbed a pebble around the girl’s mouth four 
times daily so that she would not become talkative. 


124 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


FIGURE 15. 
(For legend, see opposite page.) 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 125 


with double longitudinal zigzag lines. The other panel is crossed by 
bands of three or four transverse lines and irregularly scattered 
pairs of chevrons (V-shaped lines). The narrow central band between 
the panels is filled with pairs of zigzags. 

A flat shale slab or pebble (fig. 15, 6), 8.1 by 3.5 cm., also has an 
incised design which covers about two-thirds of its length. This 
design consists of double zigzags which run down the middle of the 
stone and cross it from edge to edge. There is also a medial longi- 
tudinal line, from the ends of which diverge sets of long oblique 
spurs in groups of three and four. These two elements are super- 
imposed without producing a coherent integrated pattern. 

The third tablet (fig. 15, c) is an oval slab split from a pebble of 
brown shale or claystone, measuring 7 by 4.8 cm. The design covers 
one surface and suggests a highly conventionalized face. Across the 
top is a transverse band of zigzags between bordering lines, above 
which rise spreading spurs, suggestive of a brow band and a feather 
crown. Below this are two oval figures from which lines run down, 
suggesting a pair of weeping eyes. Some irregular scratches may 
represent the nose. Across the bottom half of the slab are a series 
of transverse lines, crossed by longitudinal spurs and paired zigzags 
or chevrons, the whole faintly suggestive of a mouth or of clothing. 

The last specimen (fig. 15, e) is an oval slab roughly chipped from 
a piece of thin green micaceous schist. There are faintly incised 
designs on both surfaces. On one side there is a face with oval 
weeping eyes, curved brows, hair with a central part (?), a mouth, 
and a series of diagonal scratches which may represent clothing or fur. 
On the other side is a longitudinal band down the middle, crossed 
by curved lines in groups, the whole suggestive of a stylized backbone 
with ribs, or possibly a girl’s decorated braid. The slab measures 
i-3. by, 5 cm. 

We should probably include in this group a waterworn slate tablet 
rectangular in shape, which was found in beach gravel, 6 inches below 
the ‘floor’ of a small hut at the abandoned settlement on Killisnoo 
Harbor. There are a series of fine notches along one of the longer 
edges and there may have been similar notches on the other. The 
stone is, however, very badly waterworn and any other notches or 
possible incising are no longer visible. 


Figure 15.—Incised stone tablets from Daxatkanada Island. Drawn by Laura 
Knipe. a, Broken sandstone rubbing tool, top of island (49-25-19); b, shale 
pebble, FIE 12-18 inches (No. 309); c, shale or claystone tablet, C3E 12 inches 
(No. 77); d, green micaceous schist tablet, B3E 3 inches (No. 9); e, obverse and 
reverse of green micaceous schist tablet, O-T 6-12 inches (No. 320); f, slate 
chisellike blade, A3E 3 inches (No. 8). Slightly less than natural size. 


126 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


RUBBING STONE 


A roughly egg-shaped pebble with a natural groove around it, 
somewhat enlarged by pecking, was found in the Daxatkanada 
midden. It shows polish from use or handling. One of the older 
women suggested that it may have been a rubbing stone used by an 
adolescent girl or widow. 


DRINKING TUBE (?) 


A broken bird-bone tube (pl. 9, y) originally over 9.5 cm., may have 
been a drinking tube. Our informants denied that adolescent girls 
had to drink through a tube, but their reluctance to talk about such 
matters leaves the question rather open. 


OBJECTS OF FOREIGN PROVENIENCE 
COPPER 


Two objects of copper were found at archeological sites in the 
Angoon area. While native copper, obtained primarily from the 
Copper River region through trade with the Yakutat and Eyak, was 
available to the Tlingit in prehistoric times, it would be impossible 
to determine the source of these two small pieces without subjecting 
them to chemical analysis. 

The first is a conical tinkler (pl. 10, 2), 1.2 em. long, made by 
winding a scrap of copper around a thong. It comes from the Daxat- 
kanada midden. 

A fragment of a wooden object, 2.3 cm. wide, flat on one side and 
faceted on the other, has been wound about by a strip of copper. 
This bears the faint impression of a stamped design suggestive of a 
bird’s head and eye. It was found 24 inches below the surface of the 
midden which spills down the north side of the Ganax Women’s 
Fort at Angoon. 


IRON 


We have already noted some objects which appear to have been 
shaped or cut with iron or steel tools. The total list is a half of a 
toggle harpoon head (pl. 8, 6), two barbed heads with tang (pl. 8, d, 1), 
a jet bead (pl. 10, uw), an ivory pendant (pl. 10, f) four cut bones, and 
a wooden post (pl. 4, c). These came from all levels of the Daxat- 
kanada midden. In addition, there is a barbed arrowhead from the 
upper part of the midden at Pillsbury Point (pl. 8, a). 

From Daxatkanada midden there is a small chisellike piece of 
wrought iron (pl. 10, gg), which might have been shaped by hammering 
flat a large spike. It is 6.5 cm. long and 2.3 cm. wide. 

Before the Tlingit were in contact with white traders, perhaps 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 12a 


before Bering’s discovery of Alaska, the natives apparently obtained 
iron from driftwood, and worked it, according to tradition, like 
native copper by heating and pounding. Such drift iron was called 
gayEs, and the presence of some iron, or of sharp knife cuts on arche- 
ological objects, does not constitute proof of trade relationships 
with the whites. 

TRADE GOODS 


Two other objects from Daxatkanada midden indicate, however, 
trade contacts. One of these is a piece of a green glass bottle, and the 
other is a brass thimble (pl. 10, ff). The latter has a tiny hole at the 
end, evidently made from the inside (by a nail ?). The interior is 
filled with carbonized incrustation (glue or pitch), and the thimble was 
probably used as an ornamental ferule, perhaps on the end of a cane, 
rather than as an aidin sewing. It was found well down in the midden 
deposit and serves, therefore, to date the site as early historic. 

In one of the recent cache pits behind the abandoned houses at 
Whitewater Bay were found a fragment of a hollow iron cannonball, 
probably like those used to shell Angoon in 1882, and a faceted blue 
glass bead of the type sold by the Hudson’s Bay Company during the 
last century. 

CONCLUSIONS 


Among the most interesting discoveries to be noted is the evidence 
that the Tlingit baked clay or claystone for paint and that the children 
modeled clay into toy dishes. They seem occasionally to have 
achieved a baked-clay object by accident, although we should hesitate 
to call this pottery making, even though Jones, as quoted above, 
credited the Tlingit of former times with this art. To what extent 
they may have used clay is a problem for further research. 

It is also interesting that our informants were unable to identify or 
even sometimes to recognize as artificially shaped the objects which 
we have called “rubbing tools,” even though these were the most 
common type of artifact at Daxatkanada. I do not know of any 
similar objects in museum collections, but this may be because their 
crudeness has failed to attract the notice of collectors. They resemble 
small chisellike or adzlike tools from Yakutat and Prince William 
Sound in shape (de Laguna, 1956, pp. 121-124) but are unlike these in 
that they were evidently used to abrade, whereas the Yakutat and 
Chugach slate tools were used to cut and gouge. 

Of greater interest are the incised stone plaques. While some small 
slate objects, with suspension holes and designs incised in more 
traditional Northwest Coast style, may be found in museums, we 
have never seen any other Tlingit specimens quite like these simple 
rough tablets with their fine peculiar ornamentation, except for one 


128 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


late prehistoric specimen from Yakutat. The nearest analogies are 
similarly roughly shaped slate plaques from the older deposits in 
Prince William Sound (de Laguna, 1956, figs. 25-32, pp. 201-204). 
While the latter bear geometric designs and other incisings suggesting 
faces, these faces are not like the Tlingit examples with weeping eyes, 
but are more akin to the Y-shaped nose-and-brows seen on specimens 
from rather late Kodiak sites (Heizer, 1947, fig. 6; 1952, p. 266, fig. 90). 
Unfortunately, no incised plaques were found in the stratified sites of 
Kachemak Bay, which might have helped to establish their age. If 
they occurred here, we failed to notice them. While there is no doubt 
that the incised pebbles and tablets of Kodiak, Prince William Sound, 
Yakutat, and Angoon belong to a common tradition, each group 
exhibits its own peculiarities of style, just as do the rock carvings and 
rock paintings which also link these regions. The incised tablets 
were presumably amulets, although we will probably never know just 
how they were used. 


HISTORY OF ANGOON 
INTRODUCTION 


The history of Angoon and its people seems to fall into several 
“periods,” represented by different types of traditions or documenta- 
tions. The white man would logically divide it into at least three 
temporal eras: (1) prehistoric, or prior to contact with Europeans in 
the 18th century, and lacking written records; (2) early historic, 
beginning perhaps with the discovery of Alaska in 1741, or with the 
first venture into Angoon territory by a European; this would be 
covered, especially in the later decades of the 18th century, by an 
increasing number of reports by explorers, traders, and the Russian- 
American Company; (3) recent historic, a well-documented period, 
beginning with the purchase of Alaska by the United States in 1867 
and running into the present. For the native of Angoon the divisions 
are not quite the same, especially since the prehistoric and early 
historic periods could hardly be distinguished by a people whose con- 
tacts over many years with Europeans were only brief and intermit- 
tent. It was not, in fact, until 10 years after the purchase of Alaska 
by the United States that close association with the white man began. 
Then came the founding of the station at Killisnoo and the Presby- 
terian Mission school at Sitka which many Angoon children attended. 
Thus it is only within the memory of the old people that native history 
and white history really run side by side. Prior to this, some episodes 
in native tradition can be equated with events described in written 
documents, but others cannot. Often temporal clues are lacking, 
because the modern storyteller does not know, for example, whether 
firearms were used in the battles he describes. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 129 


The native traditions would seem to fall into four ‘‘periods:” (1) a 
mythical group, dealing with the Flood, and with the adventures of 
Raven and of other beings that gave the world its present form; (2) a 
legendary group, overlapping in part with the former, in spirit if not 
in time, and telling how the present sibs had their origins, obtained 
their crests, and migrated to their present territories; (3) a more 
clearly historical set of stories, dealing largely with clashes between 
sibs, and including episodes that can be assigned to the days of the 
early explorers and Russians, or to the early American penetration 
of the territory; some origins of recent sibs occurred during this 
period; (4) and, lastly, modern stories of events that occurred within 
the lifetime of the narrator or of his older relatives who witnessed the 
events and told the present narrator about them. 

Because of the fact that the material dealt with in this chapter is 
drawn from native tradition, historical sources, and native statements 
of recent or contemporary events, our organization of Angoon history 
must be a compromise between the white historian’s chronological 
scheme, and the less explicit distinctions which can be discovered in 
the character of the natives’ oral accounts. 

Since Garfield has published in 1947 an admirable summary of 
Angoon sib traditions, recorded in 1945, we shall rely upon this to a 
large extent, amplifying it with stories told by our own informants 
and by relevant material gathered by Swanton in 1904 at Sitka and 
Wrangell and published in 1909. 

As has already been pointed out, much of the traditional native 
history of Angoon consists of the distinct histories of separate sibs 
and lineages, and some discrepancies cannot be resolved. And, as 
Garfield (1947, p. 452) has made clear, ‘‘It is impossible to reconcile 
the Deluge tale with even the legendary history of the house groups 
and clans,” although presumably most of the last type of story would 
be assigned to a period following the Flood and the episodes recounted 
in the Raven myth, if the natives were pressed to attempt such a 
chronological arrangement. Some of the natives are evidently puzzled 
by inconsistencies in the stories and try to fit them together or explain 
them logically. Dr. Garfield has told me that she felt that the Tlingit 
were actually in process of organizing the Raven stories into a great 
mythological framework. However, we were unable to find confir- 
mation for this interesting suggestion, since we obtained only admit- 
tedly scattered and abbreviated versions of the myths associated with 
Raven and other supernatural characters. It is interesting that 
Swanton’s informant at Wrangell, Katishan, chief of the Kasq!ague’- 
di, succeeded in interweaving most of the sacred myths of a number 
of sibs into the framework of the Raven cycle, even though he achieved 
no clear chronological progression from one episode to the next, and 


130 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


the scheme upon which he achieved this interweaving is not apparent 
(Swanton, 1909, Tale 31). 

One informant told us that he knew an old man who had a complete 
history of the Tlingit “right back to the Ice Age’’ recorded on a skin. 
This skin was exhibited (presumably at potlatches or other ceremonial 
occasions) to ‘“‘prove the history.”” The old man knew about Glacier 
Bay ‘‘when it was just a sandy beach.” Our informant said that he 
had been told only a “short-cut version” of this history. Although 
it is doubtful that this “history” is actually a comprehensive or 
chronologically developed summary of the traditions of all Tlingit 
groups, our informant evidently regarded it as such, and this may 
be interpreted as evidence of genuine historical interest. Many edu- 
cated natives believe that the sib traditions can actually be fitted 
together as a true history. To judge by what a well-educated man 
from Klawak told me, the Flood must be imagined as having occurred 
“before the Ice Age,” or at least before the glaciers retreated, since 
many groups are said to have migrated down the rivers to the coast 
right after the Flood, when they had to pass under glaciers that have 
since melted. 

THE FLOOD 


It may be said that Tlingit traditional history begins with the 
Flood. A version of this was told us by one old man, a devoted 
member of the Salvation Army, who called it “The Story of Creation.” 
It is essentially the same as the Tlingit versions discussed by Boas 
(1916, pp. 621-625), although some details are of sufficient interest 
to warrant a brief summary. 


“THE STORY OF CREATION” 


The first man in the world, Qtsxx6x [probably Qis-xix", ‘‘Flood-Call(er)’’] 
(not Raven-at-the-head-of-Nass-River, Nas-cakt-yel, as this character is usually 
called) was so jealous of his beautiful wife that he killed all his sister’s baby boys. 
[A nephew in the old days had access to his uncle’s wife.] Finally a Crane gave 
the grieving mother a hot stone to swallow which resulted in the birth of an 
invulnerable son, who grew with miraculous rapidity to manhood. After the 
uncle had in vain tried to kill him in various ways, he discovered the young man 
sleeping with his aunt, and in a rage called up the Tide to drown them. The 
youth clothed his mother and his uncle’s wife in the skins of ducks, so that they 
escaped by swimming. He donned the skin of a snipe, flew to the sky and sus- 
pended himself above the Flood by sticking his bill into the underside of the sky. 
Finally, as the Flood subsided, he fell down into some floating kelp. There was 
nothing but water then, no land anywhere. But he met two sea otters and 
induced them to dive for sand at the bottom of the sea, and from this created the 
land. On it he created the trees. The world then was dark, without sun, moon, 
or stars. He became born as a child to the daughter of the chief who kept these 
luminaries in his house. By crying, he obtained each of them in turn, and threw 
the stars and moon into the sky. When escaping through the smokehole with the 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY Sit 


box containing the sun (daylight), he was trapped for a time, and so became 
blackened by soot. 

“He was our God, and He created the world. We call him Yet.” 
(The informant became indignant when we pointed out that this was 
the word for raven. He went on to point out that the Flood was the 
same as the one in the Bible). 

According to other informants, there must have been other people 
living in the world at this time. Thus: 


THE FLOOD 


There was a Flood, when all the people had to go to the tops of the mountains. 
They built walls of rocks around the tops, like nests. Some people had dogs. 
The bears came up after them. Those that didn’t have dogs to chase the bears 
were all killed, but those that had dogs were saved. 

I have been on top of one of the mountains, above Chaik Bay. I saw the rope 
there at the top, all turned to ashes. Another mountain where the people went 
is the high one across the Inlet, below Tenakee. You can see it from Angoon 
(over Graveyard Point). People went to the tops of the mountains—all the 
high ones—in the Flood. All the high mountains have nests. 

Other refuge mountains are south of Hood Bay and the peak known 
as Table Mountain south of Whitewater Bay. It is a general belief 
that to touch the nests or the old ropes on these peaks or even to 
point at them from the old village sites causes bad weather. 

Swanton’s version from Wrangell is rather similar to our “Story of 
Creation” except that it adds the notion that people escaped the Flood 
by climbing the mountains (Swanton, 1909, Tale 31, pp. 119-121). 
According to a Sitka story, it was Raven himself who wanted the 
Flood. He got the woman who controls the tides to raise the water 
so that he could go under the ocean. This caused the Flood, which 
rose so slowly that the people were able to get into their canoes and 
float up to the tops of the mountains. Bears and other wild animals 
took refuge there also, but the people who had dogs with them were 
protected. Some people built stone walls around the peaks and tied 
their canoes inside. Sometimes now hunters see these stones and 
then it becomes foggy (Swanton, 1909, Tale 1, p. 16). 


THE FOUNDING OF ANGOON 


It is, of course, useless to ask how soon after the Flood Angoon was 
founded, or even whether the Angoon area was first inhabited before 
or after the Flood, because when we come to the story of Angoon 
we pass into another dimension of time. 

The Ganaxadi were the original Ravens in the Angoon area, with 
settlements at Whitewater Bay, Angoon, and Sitkoh Bay, but no 
large village. According to tradition,* they had come originally 


24 Garfield, 1947, pp. 440 f.; Swanton 1908, p. 408. The latter reports that they derive their name from an 
island, Ga/nax. 


132 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (Bull. 172 


from the south, from Prince of Wales and Kuiu Islands, and were the 
first people to settle at Tongas. Our informant explained that they 
obtained their name when they were staying at a lake near Ketchikan. 
A chief stood up and said: “From now on we will be the people of 
Ganax”’ which was the name of the lake. Before that, they were 
called Limedi. 

Allied with the Ganaxadi at Angoon were the Decitan, now the 
most important Raven group in the area. We obtained no story 
about the origin of the Decitan, save that they had lived at a number 
of small settlements near Angoon, before they followed the beaver to 
Angoon Isthmus, and obtained permission from the Ganaxadi to 
live there. One informant further specified that they had lived at 
Whitewater Bay before Angoon was founded (before they moved to 
Angoon?). The stories of the founding of Angoon refer specifically 
to the settling there of the Decitan, who, in fact, derive their name 
from decu hit, ‘End of the (Beaver) Trail House.”’ Our versions of 
this story are in essential agreement with that obtained by Garfield 
(1947, p. 439). The latter’s informants, however, specified further 
that the Decitan were descended from the Linedi (t’tmné.dr), also 
known as the ‘“‘Dog Salmon People,” who had come down the Stikine 
River from the interior, passing under a glacier. They settled first 
at Eliza Harbor on the southern end of Admiralty Island, then moved 
to Tyee, where they absorbed the local ‘‘Kelp People” (Gicq”é.d1), 
and then came to Chaik Bay. Finally the main body moved to 
Kootznahoo Inlet, while one small group settled at Basket Bay. We 
did not hear any part of this migration story, and, indeed, one of our 
informants derived the Lmedi from the Decitan, rather than vice 
versa (see origin of the ’Anxakhitan). 


VERSION 1 


There were several places where the people lived before coming to Angoon. 
The first place of all the people settled at was ketintci-’an, the big sand beach 
opposite Killisnoo Island. They lived there for years and years. The southeast 
swells hit it pretty hard, so they moved; it was hard to keep canoes on the beach. 
They were all living there, the Decitan and the Ganaxadi. 

Then they moved to yaxtaduwuda, Turn Point, and stayed there for years and 
years. But there was too much tidal current there. So they moved to qixatu-’dn, 
Charlie Anderson’s place on Stillwater Anchorage. Then they moved to 
catxiwustin-’4n, Sullivan Point. After they moved from there to Angoon they 
called it tak¥anicu, ‘‘Winter Village.”’ 

There was one old man that had three nephews. They went out in a canoe, 
looking for something to eat. They saw a beaver swimming in the Inlet and fol- 
lowed it. It landed here [on the east side of Angoon Isthmus] and went across 
to the other side [where the walk now goes to the ANB Hall]. There were lots 
of trees here then. They followed the beaver across and when they came to the 
beach, he was swimming in salt water [Chatham Strait]. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 133 


The old man followed them, looked around, and liked this place. He said: 
‘“‘We’re going to move here, build our village here.”? So they got all their families 
and moved over. 

There were two men who built the village. They could make planks out of 
trees with wedges—planks 3 or 4 feet wide—great big ones. The men were 
Ganaxadi. 

VERSION 2 


There were no trees on the point below Angoon, when the people came from 
Killisnoo. [It is usually at this point that the bears are mentioned, from which the 
name of the peninsula and of Admiralty Island is derived—see p. 25.] The 
village was on the inside of Killisnoo, above the cannery, and was called 
ketintci-’an, named for the pounding surf. People couldn’t sleep there, so they 
decided to move. They saw a beaver going across a trail (at Angoon Isthmus). 
The chief of ketintci-’an said: “Nobody kill that beaver.’”’ So they came to 
Angoon. The vilage at Killisnoo belonged to all the tribes: Decitan, Teq*edi, 
Wockitan. 

When the people came to Angoon, the chief of the Decitan took the name 
langucu, referring to the ‘“‘homeless’”’ Raven that flies around everywhere. This 
was because they couldn’t make up their mind to stay at any one place (before?). 


VERSION 3 


People were then living at qrxatu-’an, Charlie Anderson’s place on Stillwater 
Anchorage. There were lots of people. Three men were hunting a beaver. 
They see it going. They paddled afterit. They hit the beaver. It came on the 
beach. They followed the beaver, watched where it went. It went across the 
isthmus, where the boardwalk is now, to the Chatham Strait side. The men went 
there. They went back to qixatu-’an and told the chief they liked that place. 
I have lost the name of the three men. 

The chief was Kaxgucgitx. He came here and liked the place. He said it 
was a good place. There were Ganaxadi living where the school is now. The 
new people asked permission to live here. So they came here. The Ganaxadi 
chief was Aniatahac. 

After a trouble, the Ganaxadi went to that place down south, Ketchikan. 


SPLIT BETWEEN THE GANAXADI AND THE DECITAN 


At Angoon the Decitan apparently formed a subservient and low- 
class subdivision of the Ganaxadi. Eventually a split between the 
two was precipitated by the infidelity of a woman, a common theme 
in Tlingit stories. The various versions of this event are in essential 
agreement, though each has details not found in the others. We can 
assume that the wronged husband was a Ganaxadi man of the Ganax 
Women’s Fort House at Angoon, the unfaithful wife was Wuckitan, 
and the lover was Decitan. The latter was discovered and slain at 
the settlement on Stillwater Anchorage, when the family were pre- 
paring to move to Sullivan Point. Garfield’s informant (Garfield, 
1947, p. 441) credits the discovery and killing to the husband’s 
nephew, and one of our informants ascribes this to the husband him- 
self. In any case, the Ganaxadi left the area, surrendering their 


134 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Laguna] 


rights to the Decitan; in memory of this they carved the picture of a 
“copper” at Sitkoh to symbolize the wealth they were giving away. 
According to one of our versions, the issue of which group was to move 
away was settled by a hockey or shinny match between Decitan and 
Ganax women. The Decitan seem to have given a big potlatch in 
order to raise their status, turning the insults of the Ganaxadi into 
honorable names. 
VERSION 1 


[The following is based on accounts given by the same informant at different 
times.] 

There was a clan called Ganaxadi that at one time lived on a place called 
Ganaxcanuwu. They separated over a woman. Some moved over to Taku; 
those that remained behind were then called Decitan. 

A woman married to one of the Ganaxadi men fell in love with a young man of 
the Decitan. She took a big square wooden box, called takt, and kept her boy 
friend inside it. When they were moving about she did not want anyone else to 
handle it. The young man was inside. Once they were moving, from where 
Charlie Anderson has a farm. The woman was away (she happened to be busy 
with something else), so the husband picked up the box. It was very heavy, 
which made him suspicious. When he got it on his shoulder, he tried to shift it. 
He made sudden jerks up and down, and that made the young man in the box 
grunt. The husband packed the box along. He knew what wasinit. He went 
on packing the box along until he came to a big round rock (xiL) on the beach on 
which he threw down the box with all his strength. The box broke, and he killed 
the man with a club. This caused bitter feeling in the clan. Both the husband 
and the lover were Ganaxadi. So the big clan separated over it. Some of them 
stayed here. Those that stayed behind called themselves the Decitan. The 
Ganaxadi went to Taku. 

At the feast after the Ganaxadi people had separated they say that over forty 
slaves were sacrificed (by the Decitan?) [The informant does not know whether 
the slaves were killed or given to the opposite moiety, because the phrase used, 
gux¥® wuduwadjAq, means either to kill or to give away.] 


VERSION 2 


There is a funny story about Turn Point. 

The girl has a boy friend. The family was moving. They had boxes, with the 
cover tied on with ropes. This girl got him in there; so he’s going to stow away. 
They think it out. One of the men is going to pack it, the box. He was getting 
it onto his shoulders, jerking the box to get it on his shoulders. He heard some- 
thing inside. He came to a boulder on the beach. So he began to shake the box. 
The man [inside] made a sound [grunt] from the jerk. So he threw the box down 
on the stone and smashed his head. 

That’s why the people split. They talked it over for years. The women were 
going to play a hockey game. Whoever lost was going to move from Angoon. 
They were the Ganaxadi and the Decitan playing against each other. My tribe 
is Decitan. The Ganaxadi were ahead of us, were the boss. They were above 
the Decitan. We tried to be a nation with them, like Japanese under U. S. A. 
The Ganaxca (women) lost the game, so that settled the trouble. They went 
over to Taku, Haines, Kake, Klawak, Hydaberg, Ketchikan, and Wrangell. 

When they were going, they got out (off shore) a little way and called: “You 


[Bull. 172 THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 135 


people got no place, got no home—k’élingiyicd.”” So the Decitan made a name 
out of it, Langucu. Mathew Fred, President of the ANB, has that name. Another 
name they were calling: ‘‘You people have no tribe—nacixcfca.”” The name from 
that is Nacuhdyi. The beach boss at Hood Bay, Robert Johnson, has it. Another 
name was: “‘Your heart is pounding because you’re afraid—yi’i yu taq’ tuti gm.”’ 
The name is QudAdti.k—a young Decitan child has it. The Ganaxadi had been 
saying that to the Decitan for years. When they make a name they shorten the 
word a bit. 


ORIGIN OF THE ’ANXAKHITAN 


The ’Anxakhitan, “People of the House in the Middle of the 
Town,” are the descendants of a Decitan woman who married a Haida 
man, Hatstn, and went to live with him at Kasaan. Years later she 
and her grandchildren returned to the Angoon area, where the woman’s 
brother, the chief of Steel House, arranged for them to build their 
house in the middle of the village. Informants differ as to whether 
the village in question was Angoon or the town in Whitewater Bay. 
In any case, the ’Anx’akhitan claim special rights at Whitewater Bay. 
Two of our informants also said that the Linedi of Juneau were also 
descended from this same woman. On the way north from Kasaan, 
however, they went to Juneau instead of to Angoon territory. Swan- 
ton reports only that the two Raven groups of the Hutsnuwu, the 
Anq!a’ketan of Nalttuck-an on Whitewater Bay and the Dé’citan of 
Angii’n, ‘are said to have separated at some former time over internal 
trouble” (Swanton, 1908, p. 412). 

Garfield’s version adds the following details: The woman had eight 
children. The reason their descendants wanted to return to Angoon 
was because they were taunted by the Haida for being foreigners. 
Before leaving, the woman sent her “‘power,”’ a seagull, to inform her 
relatives in Angoon of her intention to return. They painted its face 
and sent it back with a blanket to indicate that they would welcome 
her. All the people of Kake were invited to the potlatch when ’anxak 
hit was built (Garfield, 1947, p. 442). 

The ’Anxakhitan themselves, my people, sprang from the Decitan. There 
was a chief named Kitenat. He had asister named Qasayge. She married a Haida 
man from Kasaan. She went to live there, since everybody goes to the man’s 
side when they get married. When their descendants had multiplied at Kasaan, 
they asked: ‘‘Is that all of us who are living now?” Then QasaygE answered: 
“No. You have great-uncles living yet. But they are not here. They live at 
Kootznahoo.” 

So the descendants decided to come back among the Tlingit here. That’s how 
the ’Anaxkhitan came about. The Haida built big red cedar dugouts. They 
had one (two?) of them. (The two canoes were called t’a.waq, ‘‘Goose,’’ and gax¥ 
yadi, ‘‘Sawbill duck’s child.””) Then they started. The descendants of that woman 


moved up here from Kasaan. They brought Qasayge with them, too. All of 
them had to come. 


4609276010 


136 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (Bull. 172 


When they came here, when they were coming right around the point, people 
could hear them singing the songs that they had composed. These were special 
songs made up for the event. The singing was just in time with the paddling, 
with the paddles going up and down. The people landed right in front of the 
houses of the people from whom they had come. Krtenal, the great chief, thought 
of those who came back as his nephews or grandchildren. He said: ‘‘We must 
make room for them; we must welcome them, those who have come back. We 
will do that by dividing the whole village in two. Some of the houses will be on 
one side and some will be on the other side.” 

The village was divided in two and ’anxak hit was built in the center. It means 
‘‘House in the Center.”” The people came and lived in the center of the village 
where they built the new house. 


In discussing the story, the informant added that the first ’anxak 
hit was built at Whitewater Bay. This is also true of the other 
lineage house belonging to the sib, yanxun hit. He thinks that the 
Daq?’awedi were already living in the Angoon area at this time. 


He went on to say: 


ti’ hit, “Dog Salmon House,”’ is the same thing as ’ankak hit, but I’ve never 
heard that t‘il’ hit was the older name [as the informant’s aunt had said]. It 
might be just another name. When they are making a reference to ’anxak hit 
they would call it t‘i? hit. For instance, t‘il’ca means ‘female Dog Salmon 
women.” It’s just another way of saying ’Anxakhitancawat. 

J. G.’s father was from Juneau; he was a L’Inedi. J. G. once told me that is 
really what we are called. There is a branch in Juneau. When the people 
(’Anxakhitan) were coming back from Kasaan, they stopped around the other 
side of Point Gardner. They said to each other: “Which way are you going?” 
Some of them came up Chatham Strait and some went up by Sumner Strait to 
the Juneau area. Juneau was not known then; it was really the Taku area. 
[More correctly, Auke territory.] ‘‘Gold Creek” there at Juneau was called 
tsantik‘a-hini, before the place was Juneau. Salmon Creek was called t‘il’-hini. 
Auke Bay, ’ak*, was the main village there. The people had a home there 
and that’s where the L’Inedi went. 


STORY OF BASKET BAY 


The Basket Bay People are only a lineage or house group of the 
Decitan, not a separate sib. They apparently lived at Basket Bay 
on Chichagof Island until early in the present century, when they 
moved to Killisnoo and Angoon. The stories recorded by 
Swanton and Garfield * are essentially similar to those that we heard, 
explaining how the Basket Bay settlement was destroyed by a pet 
beaver. Garfield’s informants add that the survivors copied the new 
type of spear and the powerful bow and arrow made by the beaver, 
and also adopted the Beaver as a crest at the funeral potlach given 
for their dead relatives. 


3s Swanton, 1909, Tale 68, ‘‘The Beaver of Killisnoo”; Garfield, 1947, p. 440. Both Garfield and I are 
ndebted to Andrew Davis for the words of the beaver’s song. 


de Laguna]. THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 137 


VERSION 1 


A beaver was taken for a pet by one of the people. The little beaver made 
bows and arrows. At one time, it was making a spear. While it was sharpening 
the spear, the little beaver would sing: 

“Kluckwan khasg-kee tlyea ott oo-nar-nee, 
oosh-ke-tla-goo ahnny kaka kettle, 
oosh-ke-tla-goo ahnny kaka chettle. 

“Never had such an event taken place in a permanent village. As a legend, 
a village I have crumbled. As a legend, a village I have carried away.”’ 

All this time the beaver was actually crumbling and taking away the ground 
from under the village. He was making the spear and the bows and arrows to 
kill the chief. He hid them somewhere in the woods. One day someone found 
them. They brought the weapons to the chief; the little beaver asked to see 
them, and shot the chief with the arrow. Then he ducked and turned the village 
upside down. That is why Basket Bay is so odd at some places. The people 
moved to Angoon. 


VERSION 2 

The beaver was sharpening a harpoon (déna) to kill them. The big shot [chief] 
asked it: ‘“What are you going to do?” The beaver said: ‘‘I don’t know,” [mean- 
ing] that was his business. Finally he killed the big shot. He let the water in 
under the town, and jumped in the water, and the town turned upside down when 
he flopped his tail. The big shot turned to stone. 

My nephew’s father was at Basket Bay when he was a little boy. He saw a 
stone in the hole that looked like a man—just like half a face [profile?]. The man 
turned to stone when the beaver turned the town upside down. 


That the Tlingit may well have kept tame beavers is suggested 
by a story told about the pet beaver that the mother of an informant’s 
friend kept in her house at Hydaberg. The point of the story turned 
on the cleverness of the beaver that stole the woman’s gold bracelets 
in order to wear them himself. 


ORIGIN OF THE DAQL’AWEDI 


Swanton (1908, p. 410) records no story of the Eagle Daq}awedi, 
but writes only: ‘“The Daqu!lawe’d?, the significance of whose name 
was not learned, are another widely scattered group, being found 
under that name in Tongas, Hutsnuwu, and Chilkat, while the 
Tsague’di of Kake are a branch.” Garfield reports that their ancestors 
were the Yrenyz’d1, “Hemlock People,’’ who migrated to the coast 
down the Stikine River, passing under a glacier. Some went to Thorne 
Bay on the east coast of Prince of Wales Island, and eventually moved 
to Eliza Harbor on the south coast of Admiralty Island, where the first 
“Killer Whale House’ was built. Then they moved to Hood Bay. 
Here the group split, some moving to Angoon, while others, known as 
the Tsag”e’d1, ““Hood Bay People” (Seal People ?), eventually moved 
south to Saginaw Bay in Kake territory. Garfield’s version of the 
trouble which led to this split is the same as that told to explain the 


138 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


separation of the Ganaxadi and the Decitan (Garfield, 1947, pp. 
447 ff.). She has also recorded versions told at Angoon, Kake, 
and Klawak of Natsitanz, the man who was abandoned by his jealous 
brothers-in-law on a sea lion rock, from which he escaped after curing 
the son of the sea lion chief who had been wounded by a harpoon. 
Later he made the first killer whales of wood in order to send them 
against his brothers-in-law. This is the origin of the killer whale 
crest. Swanton also heard versions of this story at Sitka and Wran- 
gell, in which Natsflane’ is said to belong to the Tsague’di, Seal 
People, a branch of the Daq?’awedi.” 

While we were not told any connected story about the migration 
of the Daq!l’awedi to Angoon, various informants mentioned details. 
The only long story (see below) brings this sib after the Flood down 
from the interior to Lynn Canal, which they crossed on a raft. They 
went to Haines and to Chilkoot Lake. There is actually a site at the 
outlet of this lake, which we visited in 1949, and which appears to be 
old. In addition, there is a modern fish camp nearby. 

Another informant said that the Daq?awedi who came from Haines 
camped at Deepwater Point (xak‘a—’an) in Eliza Harbor, ‘out in 
the open, at the mouth of the bay,’”’ but didn’t like it because it had 
no shelter, and therefore moved to Angoon. 

A Daq}?’awedi chief placed this early settlement in Eliza Harbor 
on Liesnoi Island (Ganax xak‘a—’an). Here they built a‘‘Killer Whale 
House” with a wooden whale on the roof. The wind blew it off.” 
So they said ‘‘can kit—poor killer whale!’’ and made a sad song about 
it. They later moved to Angoon which belonged to the Decitan. 

I am indebted to Mr. William Paul of Juneau for a translation of 
this song: 

Pity the killer whale! 

Where is his land (home)? 

Pity the killer whale! 

Just as he takes up anything for his land. 

Another Daq}’awedi informant said that his ancestors came down 
the Stikine River after the Flood and went to Haines. There were 
several versions, he reported, of the location of the house that had the 
killer whale on the roof which blew down. According to one, this 
house was in the interior. But how, he asks, could interior people 
know anything about killer whales? Evidently, he explains, people 
from the coast had gone to the interior and told the people there 
about the seafoods of the coast. They intermarried with the inland 


36 Swanton, 1909, Tale 4, ‘‘Origin of the Killer Whale,’ and Tale 71, ‘‘Story of the Killer-Whale Crest of 
Daq.iawe’di.” 

37 Garfield, 1947, p. 447: ““The west wind blowing through it made a sad wailing sound which inspired a 
song still used by the Killer-whale House people at their feasts.” 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 139 


people, and finally they all moved to the coast and migrated to 
Angoon territory. 

It will be remembered that “‘Far-away Killer Whale” had a house in 
Chaik Bay. The name for this place suggests the falling down of 
the killer whale image. 

In connection with the Daq!awedi claim to Hood Bay, we were 
told by one man that the Tsag*edi of Kake used to own both Eliza 
Harbor and Hood Bay, but gave them to the Daqlawedi. Another 
reason given was that an old woman of the sib turned to stone on 
top of a nearby mountain during the Flood. (It is obvious that we 
are not going to be able to reconcile this story with that which tells 
of the Daq!l’awedi migration after the Flood!) Still another inform- 
ant, the Daq}l’awedi chief, said that his people originally owned 
only the South Arm of Hood Bay, but that the North Arm was 
given to them by the Decitan chief whose Daq}awedi son had been 
killed there by a bear. 

We also heard two versions of the story of the famous Daq?’awedi 
shaman of Hood Bay. He may have been the same individual as the 
one who learned by ‘‘mental telepathy” about the party in distress 
below Whitewater Bay (see p. 58). 


MIGRATION OF THE DAQL’AWEDI 


After the Flood, people came down Nass River from the interior. Then when 
the Flood went down, they spread all over. 

They began to see fish coming up the river, so they came down to trace the fish, 
to see where they came from. So they came down to the bottom [mouth] of the 
river. Some came down Stikine, down Taku, and down a stream across from 
Haines on Lynn Canal called tkasey hi.n [probably l1-gas hin, ““Taboo River’). 

The Daq?’awedi came down this river. After they came down, they thought 
the salt water was a lake. When the tide came up, they said the lake was 
“walking up,” and when it went down, they said ‘‘the water is walking away.” 
They didn’t understand the tide. A man tried to swallow salt water in his hands, 
because he used to drink that way from a lake, but it tasted funny. 

They stayed around there for years. Finally they made a raft to go across 
Lynn Canal. They took a good calm day. Each family had a separate section 
of the raft. They poled to Haines. Then they began to cruise around the beach. 

There is a lake above Haines [Chilkoot Lake], called tqu.ta. The real name is 
Iqu.tcakayr. They saw sockeyes going into the lake so they made a camp there. 

Finally they saw something shining in the lake when it was dark. It shone out 
like a high-power floodlight. It was laying on the bottom. They can’t get at it. 
They studied how they were going to get it. Finally they made ropes of tree 
roots—no, out of moose hide, ay4.n t‘txi [ayd4.n ‘Yukon Indians”, t‘1xi “rope-of”’]. 

One young man volunteered. “I'll hang onto arock. Tie the line to my back, 
and let me down in the water. Soon as I let go the rock I’ll grab the other 
(thing) and jerk on the line. Then pull me up.” 

So he practiced, got used to staying under water. So they sunk him down. 
He grabbed that thing, he jerked, and they pull him up. They had a big piece of 


140 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


it put it in the boat. It’s heavy. They studied how it’s going to turn out. At 
dark, it shown like broad daylight. It was a diamond, q‘ttxayanaha [“star’’]. 

So they chipped it, so everyone got a share. Any place they go, they could 
put it on a rock, and keep track of each other. They didn’t know the coast. 
But it shines better in the water, They had it a long time. But it’s lost now. 
Maybe they sold it, maybe to French Canadians. They came in ships after the 
furs, came up with the Chinook language. Old people used to be able to talk 
Chinook. French Canadians were called Ingina.n. That’s the mispronuncia- 
tion of their boat’s name. 

People from Nass River also stopped at the north end of Kruzof Island, near 
Sitka, called kuwatrxi-’an. 


STORY OF THE HOOD BAY SHAMAN 
VERSION 1 


A Daq}!’awedi shaman was in Hood Bay, at the fishing stream, tsA4qrA [note 
name for the whole South Arm]. The dog salmon had finished spawning and all 
were dead. There were just piles of skin and bones. Blow flies had laid eggs in 
them and the maggots were wriggling. 

He heard one dead fish calling him: ‘‘Wttexkaduha, save me!”” This was not 
his real name, which was Yaicatsét. He picked up the dead fish, put an eagle 
feather on its head, and it came alive and jumped into the water. The dog 
salmon became one of his powers. There was a spirit in it. 

Another time he was near a point northeast of this stream when a crane called 
to him: “Qatutctin, get on my back!’ He climbed on the bird’s back, and it 
packed him all the way to Kootznahoo Head, where there is a cave, and put him 
down there. The crane became his power. 


VERSION 2 


There was a great shaman at Hood Bay, one of the Daq?awedi. He was so 
powerful that when they put his straw mat (gdtc) in front of him, the fringes on it 
would move as if they were alive. He was one of the most powerful doctors. 

Before he got his full powers he had a challenge contest with a woman doctor. 
The man called his spirit. The people had a curtain hung up and they heard it 
rip. The man’s spirit was a mussel shell knife. The woman, however, gathered 
up his spirit in her hand as it was coming in. ‘Is this your power?” she asked. 
This showed that she had more power than he did, so the man was very much 
embarrassed. 

He went fasting to get more powers. He was called Qatuctin then. 

Once he was going up a salmon stream in Hood Bay when he heard someone 
calling. He went up the stream, looking about. He looked down and there was 
an old dog salmon with gnats in it. It was calling him Wttcxkaduh4, a name 
which means “bringing things together.” 

He cleaned the salmon then and put it into a deep pool (’1c). Then he put 
feathers on it and pretended to make it jump. The fish jumped and went a little 
ways. Then he cleaned it again, and took out a few more gnats and maggots 
which were stuck on its tail. This time the fish jumped and disappeared. He 
was testing his powers. Afterwards he told the people that he had a new name, 
That name now belongs to Jimmy George, chief of Killer Whale Tooth House 
of Angoon. 

Another time he was going along and he heard someone calling him by the same 
name, Wttcxkaduhd. He looked around, but didn’t see anyone. Then he saw 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 141 


a bird, a crane (tuq’). He came closer, but the bird didn’t go away. After a 
while he realized that was where the voice was coming from. It said: ‘Jump on 
my neck.” 

When he got close enough, he did that and the bird went right into the bay 
with him, although this kind of bird doesn’t dive. It started to swim and it dove 
down. From Hood Bay it went, and came up at Killisnoo, at the channel called 
wucq ule.’ sit‘, which means “it was getting so fat it was getting narrow.” 
The bird named that place. [Since the whaling station was established at 
Killisnoo after this event, the informant thinks that the people thought of that 
name then, when there would be whale grease on each side of the channel.] 

They got their breath, and the bird told the man to put his head right down by 
his neck. It dove again. It took him right down by the cliffs at Kootznahoo 
Head, at t‘at‘k” xay1. He rode with the bird to the mouth of the cave in the 
slanting rocks, a hole in the water, and he came upon great spiritual powers there. 
That’s where he got the mat that had ends that were alive. He got his main 
powers from the spirits there. After that the bird took him back to Hood Bay. 

Then when he had the powers from the dog salmon, the crane, and the other 
spirits, he went back to the place where he had been embarrassed. He came with 
an attendant (’ixt xan q4wv) [a young man of the shaman’s sib who waits on him 
and beats his drum]. There were a lot of people on the shore watching them 
coming. They had some pike poles in the canoe and he told his attendant to 
throw one ashore. His attendant threw it ashore and it stuck in the ground. 
The young men on sbore tried to pull it out but they couldn’t do it. All the 
young people got interested then. They twisted it but they couldn’t pull it out. 
This showed that the man’s spiritual powers were helping. They were holding 
the pole. They twisted it until it was like a rope. 

The news spread and the people crowded in the house and jammed in to see him 
perform. ‘The house was crowded and people on top of the roof were looking 
down through the smoke hole. When the time came to give the performance, 
the attendant wasn’t even near the drum. He was very far off. His hair was 
turned up [gathered] on top of his head. He just nodded his head towards the 
drum and the people could hear the drum beating. Nobody was beating the 
drum, it was just hanging there, but it was making the sound as the man kept 
moving his head. 

[This incident is the basis for the expression used in public speeches to indicate 
that the speaker would like to do something but is unable. ‘I’m just going to 
nod my head towards you people, and the drum will beat.’”? The name of the 
attendant is mentioned.] 

So they had the challenge again. The woman had her spiritual power from the 
owl (tsusk~). She still thought that she had more power than he did. Just as 
soon as the people were seated, the performance began. Both doctors [or the man 
only?] were going around the fire sunwise. The woman was making a noise like 
an owl: hiy’ hay’ hay’! The man disregarded it. Soon she tried to block him 
again. He grabbed her power then and said: ‘Is that yours?” [The informant 
thinks he crushed it under his feet.] Then he picked her off her feet as if he were 
a magnet. She stuck right on his back, although she tried to get down. This was 
when he was going around the fire. [The informant does not know the end of the 
story.] 

ORIGIN OF THE WUCKITAN 


We learned little of the history of this Eagle sib. 


The Wouckitan used to live up Taku, in an enormous house—the biggest in the 
world. But they were too crowded and had trouble among themselves, so some of 


142 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


them decided to leave. The chief they left behind wept and sang a sad song. 
They came down Taku and went all over—some to Hydaberg; there are a few there 
now—and to other places. But they all know the same story. 

Garfield (1947, pp. 449f.) reports the story in more detail, however. 
She identifies the ancestors of the Wuckitan as Yrnytdi, like those of 
the Daq!’awedi. Both groups migrated to the coast where they built 
a “Big House,” hit ten. Later the Wuckitan quarreled again, and 
separated, one canoe going to Tuxekan, another to Kake, the third to 
Haida country, and the fourth starting off for Freshwater Bay. The 
last party stayed for a while at Grouse Fort on Icy Strait, in present 
Hoonah territory, where they built a house called nu cak‘a hit, 
“Fort-on-Top House,” or wuck‘a hit, “‘Over-all House,” on a bluff 
that overlooks the stream, xast‘u hi’n, ‘“Jaw-Inside River,” at the 
mouth of which lived the people who later became the Kagwantan. 

This village is also mentioned by Swanton as Kaq!anuwii’ in the 
story which explains the origin of the Kagwantan, ‘‘People of the 
Burned Down House.” In this version, it was a Wolf House that 
was burned, and the Angoon Decitan had been invited to the potlatch 
to celebrate its erection (Swanton, 1909, Tale 104, pp. 338, 326-334, 
342). Swanton also reports: ‘“‘An old man at Sitka seemed to think 
that the Wucketan had come from Kaq!anuwi’; along with the K4- 
gwantain and other Eagle clans’ (Swanton, 1908, p. 412). Our 
informants identified this place as kaxnuwu, “‘Female Grouse Fort,’’ 
and a Kagwantan man claimed it as the ‘‘capital’’ of his people. We 
were also told that formerly both Kagwantan and Wuckitan lived 
there. There were two ladies, one belonging to each sib; the Wuckitan 
woman was named Quigat, but our informant did not remember the 
name of the other. When either of the two sibs was going to give a 
potlatch, the woman of the other sib would walk around dressed in 
dentalium shells. People would hear the rattle of her beads and so 
know what was being planned. 

We visited this site in 1949. It is on a rocky point, has a shelly 
midden on top and on the flat below, and shows the remains of about 
four house pits (fig. 16). In addition, there is a large, unfinished 
but abandoned lineage house belonging to a Kagwantan chief named 
T’oyat’, “Kwakiutl,” now living at Hoonah. It is tempting to think 
that the story of the burned house might be verified by excavation 
at this site. Our impression is that it would repay further archeologi- 
cal work, for we found a stone adz in the midden near one of the house 
pits. 

From Grouse Fort, to continue Garfield’s history, some of the 
Wuckitan moved to Excursion Inlet, where they built nu hit, “Fort 
House.” Again some of their descendants moved, camping in Funter 
Bay, Whitestone Harbor, Hawk Inlet, and False Bay, eventually 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 143 


GROUND HOG BAY 


rocky point 


FicurE 16.—Site of Grouse Fort, Icy Strait. 


founding tak”4n1, ‘‘Winter Village,’ in Pavlof Harbor in Fresh- 
water Bay. Here they built a new Fort House. Still later they 
moved to Angoon. Eventually they surrendered their rights in 
Tenakee Inlet to the ’Anxakhitan in compensation for a murder 
(Garfield, 1947, p. 452). 

One of the places occupied by the Wuckitan in Kootznahoo Inlet 
was Pillsbury Point. When they were driven away by hostile attack, 
they are said to have gone north, to Freshwater Bay, to Excursion 
Inlet, and to Battle Creek, the sockeye stream behind Strawberry 
Point (Island?) in Glacier Bay. Our informant did not make clear 
when this move was supposed to have taken place, so we cannot relate 
this chronologically to the episodes in the sib migration story recorded 
by Garfield. Swanton (1908, p. 412) suggests that the Juneau 
Wuckitan were derived from the Angoon or Hoonah. But we learned 
no story explaining the origin of the different branches of the sib. 
Most of the tales told us referred clearly to later events in the history 
of the Wuckitan. 

ORIGIN OF THE TEQWVEDI 


According to Swanton, the Teq”edi came from Prince of Wales 
and Kuiu Islands, and derive their name from that of a small island, 
Teq°, near the northern end of Prince of Wales Island. ‘According 


144 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


to Haida accounts, they were their chief opponents at the time when 
that tribe invaded Alaska, and they subsequently fled to the main- 
land.” ‘From all the accounts obtained, it would seem that the 
Te’qoedi constituted a large part of the population of Prince of Wales 
Island and moved to Tongas and Sanya at the time when the Haida 
immigration took place, whether that happened peaceably or other- 
wise’ (Swanton, 1908, pp. 408 f., 481, 443). Garfield’s informants 
said that their ancestors claimed the areas of Sukkwan and Kasaan 
on Prince of Wales Island before the Haida came, and that the original 
Bear House was at Sukkwan. She also records a myth explaining 
how the Teq*edi of a settlement near Old Kasaan acquired their 
name at a peace ceremony given by the Bears to the Dog Salmon, 
at which the Bears instructed people in the proper treatment of 
dead bears (Garfield, 1947, pp. 443 ff.). She also gives a version of 
the story of Kats the TeqY’edi man who married a female Bear, 
which is told by the Teq*edi of Tongas and Angoon to justify their 
claim to the bear as a crest. The scene of this story is laid near 
Ketchikan. Swanton also records a similar story from Wrangell, 
and another from Sitka in which Kats is a Kagwantan man (Swanton, 
1909, Tale 69 and Tale 19). We heard an abbreviated version at 
Angoon. 

The most important story of the Angoon Teq*edi centers around 
their former settlement at Todd. Garfield’s version of the fight here 
between two Teq”edi groups is essentially the same as ours, but 
contains further details (Garfield, 1947, pp. 445 f.). Thus, the 
unfaithful wife was a Decitan woman, her husband belonged to 
Bear House, and the lover whom he killed to Valley House. The 
husband was able to recognize his wife when she was with her 
lover because he had put red paint on her blanket. Our story lacks 
the end which Garfield’s informants supplied: After the fight between 
the husband (and his relatives) and the relatives of the murdered 
lover, the former group went to Chilkat where they became the 
Taqestina sib; the lover’s relatives went to Whitewater Bay. As 
will be seen, both Bear House and Valley House are, however, rep- 
resented at Angoon. 

Garfield also records the adventures of some Teq”edi sea-otter 
hunters from a camp near Mount Edgecumbe. People from this 
camp went to (settled at ?) Todd and Yakutat (Garfield, 1947, pp. 
446 f.). The movement to Todd should be remembered in relation 
to the establishment in 1804—5 of a fortified village in Peril Strait of 
Indians who fled from the Russians at Sitka. Our informants at 
Yakutat confirm the movement of Teq”edi from Mount Edgecumbe 
to the Yakutat area. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 145 


STORY ABOUT TROUBLE AT TODD 


They have a story about something that happened near Todd Cannery in 
Peril Strait at Lindenberg Head. The place is called q‘Ach-t‘n-wahaytys, ‘‘Where 
a rock fell on somebody’s head.” It is named after the incident. 

There was a woman who was going out with a man. Her husband was going 
fishing and he was catching lots of fish. Every time he would go out fishing she 
would go out with the man. Both of the men were Teqvedi. Her husband knew, 
and knew he would trap her some day. 

One day in the spring when he had gone fishing, he marked her on shore by her 
blankets. He saw her go with the man. The husband rows ashore. He goes 
around the bluff. They had a fight there after this, the Teqvedi did. He was 
looking below and he saw her with the man, lying down. They were at the bot- 
tom of the cliff. He got a big rock. He was planning to kill them both. So he 
dropped the rock, but he got only the man. The rock fell on the man’s head, but 
it did not hurt his wife. 

The husband then goes fishing again. He is catching lots of halibut. The 
hook with which he killed lots of halibut was called tex~-wack‘a-saq‘, “red 
snapper cheek bone.” In the meanwhile the wife gives the alarm that she has 
found a man killed by a rock that fell off the bluff onto his head. 

Finally the husband brought in his fish. They used to use big shells of a brown 
color, big mussels, for cutting fish. A mussel shell knife was called yis. The 
man’s wife came to meet him and says that an accident had happened to one of 
his male relatives. 

He said: ‘‘Don’t worry,’”’ and he gave her a sharp yis. “Everything will be 
all right,” he says. ‘‘Take your time, and don’t worry. Don’t worry too much. 
Just keep quiet.”” When he told his wife to take it easy in cleaning the halibut, 
he was just trying to rub it in, trying to make her contentious; that is, he was 
indicating that he knew what had happened to her lover. 

She was cutting fish, but the first cut she made, the woman cut her foot. 

Everything was O. K. for awhile, and after that they had a fight because they 
found out. 

The husband was out seal hunting. He was with his close relations. They 
landed on the beach and built a fire. In the meantime others who were going 
out hunting saw the fire and thought they would join the first party. The 
husband was sitting by the bonfire and was telling his closest relatives that he 
had done that [killed his wife’s lover]. In the old days the men had long hair, 
and when someone died, they would cut it off. The other hunters, when they were 
coming in towards the fire, heard a boy saying: ‘“‘So, after all, it’s you that done it, 
and now I’m cold without my hair!’’ 

The incoming party heard this remark about how if the man had not done it, 
the little boy wouldn’t miss his hair. The others wondered then, and they stayed 
quiet in their canoes. When they heard the story, they went away just as easy. 
Those on shore didn’t see them. Now, if people build a bonfire on the shore, 
they call out: “Is that you?” just to be sure. 

The others who had heard the story went ashore nearby. After they had told 
the story, the close relations of the dead man went and attacked the husband 
and his party. Just one man of them got away, and though he was speared, 
he walked along the shore the whole way to Todd. 

After the men who had attacked the husband’s party came back, the one 
survivor of the husband’s party told the rejatives of the other men that had been 
killed. He got back in the night and told the close relatives of the dead men. 
Then they started to prepare for war. 


”? 


146 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


Then, in those days when they prepared for war, they usually took baths in 
winter on the beach so they would be able to withstand any kind of hardship. 
They were always preparing for some kind of future war. They would bathe 
right out on the beach. 

So all the Teqvedi got into the water together—and right there in the water 
they began to fight each other. The people used to have lots of fights with 
themselves. 


OTHER STORIES ABOUT ANGOON SIBS 


The story of the trouble at Todd might just as well, perhaps, have 
been included in the later history of the Angoon sibs, since it would 
seem from its character to refer to a period of ordinary historical 
events. We have included it, however, among the sib origin and 
migration stories, since it serves to explain why the Teq”edi joined the 
Angoon people. While it is hopeless to attempt to arrange all the 
various sib traditions in chronological order, those to be reported 
below would seem to refer to relatively recent times. In a number of 
cases an actual date for the event can be ascertained from historical 
sources. Thus, we were told a number of stories about the destruc- 
tion of the Russian post at Sitka in 1802 but omit them here, since 
this victory is ascribed to the Sitka Kiksadi, not an Angoon group. 

The stories of the successful attack on the Russians were told us 
by a man whose paternal grandfather was a Kiksadi, and who had 
learned these tales as part of the glory of his ancestors when he was a 
school boy at Sitka. It is probably characteristic that the defeat of 
the Russians was ascribed to the Kiksadi alone, and the leadership to 
their chief, Katian; ** other Sitka groups were not even mentioned, so 
this story seems to be fitted into the set of traditions belonging to 
this Raven sib. 

Further investigations might well indicate that the Angoon people 
did actually play some part, perhaps indirect, in the relations between 
the Sitkans and Russians, for when Baranof returned to Sitka in 
September 1804, to reestablish the Russina post, he learned from a 
Kodiak girl who had been a hostage among the Indians that “the 
enemy had sent to the inhabitants of Hoosnoff [xutsnuwu], to solicit 
assistance”’ (Lisiansky, 1814, p. 160), and this news made the Russians 
determined to seize the native fort at once. A few days after the 
Sitkans had fled, abandoning their fort to the Russians, the old chief 
who had been acting as ambassador or go-between, especially in pro- 
curing native hostages for the Russians (one of whom was his own 
son), again came to the Russians. He was actually a native of 
“Hoosnoff,” married to a Sitka woman, and had apparently tried 
originally to prevent the Sitkans from attacking the Russians in 1802. 

28 Lisiansky, 1814, p. 230, refers to ‘‘Kotlean,’”’ a Sitkan “‘toyon,’’ or chief, as the principal agent of the 


attack on the Russuans. He came on July 28, 1805, to make friendly overtures to Baranoff, after the Rus- 
sians had regained possession of the Indian fort at Sitka. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 147 


Failing, he had gone to Chilkat to avoid being involved in the 
affair.” Now he had come on behalf of the “‘Hoosnoff”’ to proffer 
their friendship and to ask permission of the Russians to make war 
on the Sitkans. This Lisiansky refused. (It is a pity that Lisiansky 
did not report this man’s name, as it is impossible to identify him or 
the Angoon sib to which he belonged. Lisiansky seems to have been 
unaware of Tlingit sib or moiety organization.) In typical Tlingit 
oratorical style, the chief explained that the Sitkans ‘‘were held in 
such contempt by his countrymen . . . that if a Hoosnoff child com- 
mitted a fault, he was told by way of reprimand, that he was as 
great a blockhead as a Sitcan’ (Lisiansky, 1814, p. 165). This evi- 
dently is a reference to the story of the children who misunderstood 
their mother’s instructions and cooked their little sister instead of the 
food. Swanton records this incident, which occurred at a camp a 
little north of Sitka (Swanton, 1909, Tale 17) and we also heard the 
story at Angoon. Our informant further specified that it formed the 
basis for a moral proverb. Another story that was told Lisiansky 
to prove the worthlessness of the Sitkans referred to their descent 
from two brothers who became poor because one of them broke the 
taboo against eating a sea cucumber. These men were eventually 
given wives by the Stikine Indians who took pity on them (Lisiansky, 
1814, pp. 166 f.). 

Another way in which the Angoon people may have become involved 
with affairs at Sitka was due to the emigration of the Sitka natives 
to Angoon territory when they abandoned their fort to the Russians 
in October 1804. A group apparently moved to the eastern end of 
Peril Strait where they built a fortified village. This place is described 
by von Langsdorff, who visited it in the fall of 1805, as located on the 
northeast point of the “Island of Sitka”’ (Baranof Island), on a rocky 
headland, some hundred feet high, which could be sealed only from the 
northwest side. He places it in 57°46’ North latitude, and 134°40’ 
West longitude (von Langsdorff, 1817, pp. 395, 400, 410). Evenif we 
correct these figures by the errors apparent in his location of Cape 
Edgecumbe, i. e., to 57°23’ North and 134°56’ West, this still does 
not give the correct spot, for the designated place falls in Peril Strait, 
but it does suggest either Point Hanus or Point Moses that flank 
Hanus Bay on the south shore of Peril Strait. The only high bluff 
mentioned by the United States Coast Pilot (1943, pt. 1, p. 378), 
however, is Lindenberg Head at Todd on the oppositeshore. One ofthe 
charts published by Captain Beardslee (1882), based on surveys of 
1879 and 1880, indicate a stockaded village and fort at Todd, which, 
as we have suggested, may be the fort in question. In an unpublished 


29 Lisiansky, 1814, pp. 165, 228. His behavior is typical of the traditional role of the brother-in-law, who 
acts as neutral go-between in time of war or feud, or as distributor of gifts at potlatches. 


148 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


manuscript, Emmons identifies the fort as Halibut Fort at Point 
Hayes. 

Lisiansky describes this fort on the basis of information received 
from a native interpreter as being ‘“‘well situated in a small shallow 
bay . . . defended on the water side by a large rock,’”’ and he adds 
that other communities round about Sitka had also fortified their 
villages (Lisiansky, 1814, p. 220). His chart, which is not very accu- 
rate, shows a village ‘‘Sitca’” on the east coast of Chichagof Island, a 
short distance north of Peril Strait, which may be intended to indicate 
the site of the fort, although it is more likely to refer to the village of 
sitqo near Chatham in Sitkoh Bay (ibid., chart opp. p. 221). 

While we are unable to locate the new fort accurately, it does seem 
to fall within the area claimed by the Teq¥edi of Angoon, and the 
descendants of its founders undoubtedly contributed to the population 
of Angoon. ‘DIchaetin’ is the name given by von Langsdorff to one 
of the chiefs living at this fortified village. He may be Yet djin, chief 
of Qaxa’tdja hit, “Lively-Herring House” of the Kiksadi (Swanton, 
1908, p. 405). The chief, “Schinchetaez,’’ who lived about 10 miles 
(15 versts) west of the fort, cannot be identified. The latter had to 
live alone with his family because he had been friendly to the Russians 
(von Langsdorff, 1817, p. 406). 

Further investigations at Angoon might lead to an identification of 
these places, of the chiefs, and of the relationships of the latter to the 
Angoon people. It is indeed conceivable that the founding of Todd 
is related to this early 19th century movement from Sitka, though it is 
strange that neither Garfield nor ourselves learned anything about the 
origin of this town. 

In any case, the enmity between some of the Angoon and Sitka 
sibs, suggested by Lisiansky’s report, is attested by a number of 
stories that we were told by our Angoon informants. Among these 
tales are some referring to fights of the Decitan and ’Anxakhitan with 
the Kiksadi, although we do not know which of the two incidents re- 
counted is supposed to have happened first. There is also a series of 
incidents involving fights between the Stikine from Wrangell and the 
Sitka Kagwantan, which include some battles between the latter and 
the Angoon Wvuckitan. Another story which presumably deals with 
the later history of Angoon recounts the fight between the Wuckitan 
and Hoonah people at Pillsbury Point; and there are several versions 
of the Wrangell attack on the Decitan at Daxatkanada Island and of 
the subsequent troubles between these two groups. 

These stories indicate that while feuds were primarily between 
sibs, not between whole moieties or communities, the more serious 
wars were between sibs that belonged to distinct tribes, and there 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 149 


was a tendency for other groups of the same moiety or tribe to become 
involved because of real or fictitious relationship to the principals 
concerned. We should also note that individuals who stand in the rela- 
tionship of father, brother-in-law, or son-in-law to those involved in 
feuds or wars very often attempt to act as neutral go-betweens, and 
that this status may be extended to include all members of their line- 
age orsib. Lastly, the way of making peace after a fight, or arranging 
a settlement to prevent a fight, was for the disputing groups to ex- 
change men of equally high rank as hostages to be honored at Peace 
Dances. To refer to old feuds, even now, is to arouse old enmities. 


FIGHTS BETWEEN THE DECITAN AND ’ANXAKHITAN AND THE SITKA 
KIKSADI 


VERSION 1 


The Decitan and L’medi ( Anxakhitan) stayed on a fort off Point Hayes at 
Sitkoh Bay, during a war with the Kiksadi of Sitka. I don’t know how it started. 
All the men on the fort were killed. The name of the fort is xusnuwu. 


VERSION 2 


The Sitka Kiksadi took the Angoon Decitan for slaves. The Decitan had gone 
on the south coast on a war party themselves. Some of the women and kids were 
left behind at a place called tcatk‘a nu, ‘Halibut Place Fort,’”’ near Point Hayes 
at the mouth of Sitkoh Bay. The Kiksadi came and took the womenfolk and 
children who had been left behind and took them as slaves. 

When the Decitan got back, there was a fellow called Kitctayi. He was an 
’Anxakhitan man. They prepared for war. They got ready to take back those 
who had been taken to Sitka as slaves. It was not easy, but they challenged the 
Sitkans to a fight. The whole bunch went, but M. J. (an elderly ’Anxakhitan 
man) says that at this time the Decitan were once slaves, and that it took our 
“tribe,” the ’Anxakhitan, to get them back. This happened before there was 
any Angoon, because they didn’t live at Angoon at that time, I believe. But this 
happened after the Kasaan people got back. The ’Anxakhitan had Haida war 
canoes. These could carry a lot and outrun the others. There was more power in 
them, and there were more men to paddle. 

Sometimes over here they are telling about how Kitctayi of Angoon had fought 
the Kiksadi and brought back those women that the Kiksadi had taken. The 
Decitan boys were boasting; they knew that my grandfathers were Kiksadi and 
were trying to belittle them. Anyway, Kitctayi was really ’Anxakhrttan. I 
then asked if they had heard of the place near Sitka, Nakwasina Passage, called 
teak-kusaxa-sit'‘, “Wagle Hating (human beings) Small Channel.” 

The Decitan and ’Anxakhitan had a conflict with the Kiksadi. I heard about 
it; I knew both sides. That time the Decitan and the ’Anxakhitan went there 
to fight. They were getting the worst of it so they ran away into the woods. 
They landed on Halleck Island and went into the woods. They left their canoes 
behind, but hoped to get across the Nakwasina Passage. The Sitka people lined 
up in ambush on the mainland side. When the Angoon people were hungry, 
they would have to come out. They would swim across. The Krksadi killed 
them as they tried to cross and left their bodies for the eagles to eat. That’s 
how the passage got its name. 


150 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


(Our informant said that once when he reminded some braggarts of 
this story, all the Decitan left, except the man in whose house the 
conversation took place. This man told him afterward that he didn’t 
like to hear about it.) 


STORY OF PILLSBURY POINT 


Pillsbury Point was an old place. It was called ‘‘Whale Head 
Fort,” yaycayi nu. ‘There used to be a wall around the top of the 
cliff and hundreds of people stayed inside. People were burned out 
by people from the West Coast and moved to Freshwater Bay’”— 
our informant did not know why. 

The chief at Pillsbury Point used to capture West Coast people 
going south to trade. Finally he went to Hoonah—the informant 
was not sure that this was the place—to invite them to make peace. 
The West Coast chief came, but after eating, he made a mistake. 
He reached under his left arm. (When asked if this was to draw a 
knife, the informant said that they didn’t have steel in those days, 
only some kind of bone. In any case, it was a gesture that meant 
he was going to attack. In retelling, the informant specified that the 
chief made a signal to his people.) The Wuckitan chief had peace 
in his heart, but now he knew there could be no peace. That was 
why they left. They went to Hoonah. The first place they stayed 
after leaving was at Excursion Inlet, then at Battle Creek, the 
sockeye stream back of Strawberry Point (Island?) in Glacier Bay. 
They were looking for their cousins. 


SIEGE OF DAXATKANADA 


VERSION 1 


The Wrangell people, led by chief Ceks, “‘Shakes,”’ 8° made war on the Decitan. 
The latter stayed on top in the fort at Daxatkanada Island, week after week, 
maybe a month. The Wrangell people believed that they did not have any 
water, but they had a spring on top. [The informant said he had searched for it, 
but never found it. It seems impossible to us that there ever should have been 
a spring there.] Finally Chief Shakes called to them to prove they had water. 
A young man brought down a basket of water and put it on the ‘‘bridge”’ [cause- 
way]. The Wrangell people tasted it and it was fresh, so they gave up and went 
away. 


All other informants indicate a very different end to the siege, 
because there was no water on the island. One man identified the 
chief of the defenders as Kaxgucgitx, chief of the Decitan Raven 
House. Another said: 


They had no water, so two brave men, from End of the (Beaver) Trail House 
gave their lives to save their people. They were taken to Wrangell, but the 


%0 Identified by Swanton (1908, p. 402) as chief of Hit Lén, “Big House,” of the Nanyaa’yi, a Wolf (Eagle) 
sib of the Stikine. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 151 


Wrangell people had so much respect for them they let them go home. [They 
were evidently taken as hostages for a Peace Dance.] 


VERSION 2 


The Wrangell Indians drove the Angoon people up onto this fort. The doctors 
on each side were fighting each other. The Wrangeil one dried up the atmosphere 
until there was no water. The Angoon warriors had to steal the milk from the 
babies’ mothers. Finally the rain came. 

The Wrangell people took some prisoners, but the Angoon people escaped 
way up the Inlet into a salt lake [at the head of Mitchell Bay]. Next year the 
Wrangell Indians returned and went to look for them, led by their slaves. The 
slaves took them into the salt lake, but when they came out, the Wrangell people 
didn’t know about the waterfall from the lake [which is submerged only at high 
water], so they were all drowned. 

Later the Angoon people went to Wrangell and shot the canoes of their enemies 
off High Water Island. When the drowning men grabbed at the canoe rims, 
they chopped off their wrists. [The informant thought that this must have been 
after the natives had guns.] 


VERSION 3 


The people [Decitan] had to surrender that time. Some people came down 
from Wrangell with Ceks, Chief Shakes. All his generals [pephews?] were con- 
sidered as Shakes, too. 

They came with their war canoes off Danger Point. Some boys who were out 
fishing saw the war fleet coming. Right around yaxt'Aduwudié (Turn Point) 
there are cliffs, and there is a place called ux® tksetk1, “‘Marten’s Small Ladder.” 
This is on Kootznahoo Head, opposite Danger Point. You could go up the cliffs 
easily there, and right on top is a steep place you can’t climb, and there they had 
fixed up logs like some kind of ladder. They chopped steps into the logs. 

When the canoes chased them, they [the boys] rowed fast. The tide was going 
out strong. And they got ashore and started to run up. They knew the place 
and they started up the cliff, and the last man up kicked the log down. Those 
who were chasing couldn’t very well get up. They would have to carry the lad- 
der up, too. I think that the ladder had been lowered from the woods above, 
originally. 

The boys walked across this way and came out opposite Daxatkanada. They 
told the people. They thought the enemy didn’t know the tide, but instead of 
that, the enemy came right up on the island next Daxatkanada. The tide was 
going out and the people had figured they couldn’t make it. The enemy was in 
the woods right on Channel Point Island, fuk¥-’ani island. That’s where the 
fort people got their water from. 

I used to hear the old men talk about it long ago. M. W.’s father’s father used 
to talk about it. It was just like they were starving the people out. They 
couldn’t get any water. They had got all the water they could in canoes. Water 
gave them away and they had to give up. Thirst is worse than hunger. They 
carried water in the canoes. I don’t see why they stayed out there. They were 
Decitan out there. They had some water stored in smaller canoes, but it gave out. 

They made peace, I believe. They talked to each other from that island and 
so forth. They talked like riddles [i. e., with the mythological allusions of cere- 
monial oratory]. One side had to be answered by the other side. Then the 
Decitan gave up. 

This old man claimed his grandfather and so forth were descended from 


460927—60——_11 


152 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull, 172 


Shakes. That’s why he felt he was all right. He felt he was a little above these 
here. He was Decitan, but he was descended from them. He felt a little better 
than any around here, because the people had to surrender to his grandparents 
one time. I believe this happened long before Killisnoo [was founded] but the 
people must have had guns. 

Later, the Decitan went down to Wrangell for a return engagement. They had 
a sea battle. They shot the Wrangell canoes and tipped them over. People 
swam up to hang onto the canoes. These people (Decitan) were vicious and cut 
off their hands. 


SEQUEL TO VERSION 8, TROUBLE AT WRANGELL 


The Reverend Hall Young referred in a letter to a fight at Wrangell with 
natives from here [but apparently got it wrong. This occurred in January 1880]. 
You can’t mention old troubles that are settled, so it’s hard to find out about it. 
People at Wrangell got drunk, so they mentioned the trouble at Daxatkanada. 
They blamed the ministers for the trouble at Wrangell [which followed]. They 
{some Wrangell natives ?] went disguised as marshals. They broke into some 
house, confiscating the drinks and so started the trouble. It led to a killing. 
One old Decitan man, Tawutean, claimed he hit an old woman on the head with 
an ax, but they say he was hidden [during the fight]. The boys used to tease him 
about it. 

[Apparently the old enmity between the Decitan and the Wrangell Nanya’ayi 
is not yet forgotten, for recently men from Angoon were at Wrangell, and the 
local natives referred to the defeat at Daxatkanada.] The Angoon people didn’t 
like to hear about Daxatkanada. So one of them said: ‘‘What about hands in 
halibut stomachs ?” [referring to the sea battle at Wrangell]. He got a beating 
up. In olden days, it comes to death, if you make that remark. 


According to Captain Beardslee, who quotes from letters of eye- 
witnesses,*! and who later investigated the affair, the Angoon natives 
were really not to blame, but the chief blame lay with Dr. W. H. R. 
Corlies, an independent missionary at Wrangell, of whom Beardslee 
writes: “Unfortunately, his zeal is not tempered with discretion and 
familiarity with Indian affairs.” He also exhibited “ignorance of 
Indian laws and customs, or even disregard of them.”’ 

We may summarize Beardslee’s story of the trouble as follows: The 
native village of 120 Stikine Indians was east of Fort Wrangell, the 
white settlement, while to the west were a number of guest houses, 
used by Indians who came to trade at the town. In January 1880, 
about 50 natives from Angoon were staying there, and not having been 
subjected to missionary teaching, had set up a still to make 
“hoochenoo,” or rum. On January 11, Dr. Corlies ordered a Stikine 
Indian who acted as one of the unofficial police at the mission to 
destroy the still. The latter at first refused, knowing that trouble 
would result if his people attempted to exercise any authority over 

31: W. H. Woodcock, Chairman of Committee of Safety at Wrangell, January 24, 1880; M. D. Ball, Col- 
lector of Customs at Sitka, who had visited Wrangell, January 26, 1880; W. E. George, coast pilot on the mail 
steamer California, January 25, 1880; Dr. W. H. R. Corlies, self-styled ‘‘Missionary to the Indians of Alaska,” 


January 27, 1880, published in the Alaska Appeal. 
32 Beardslee, 1882, pp. 50, 53. See pp. 50-54, 70 for Beardslee’s discussion of the whole affair. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 153 


the Angoon natives, but finally yielded to the missionary’s impor- 
tunities. The Stikine posse did destroy the still, but one of them was 
struck in the face, which constituted a deadly insult. Despite the 
urgings of Dr. Corlies and the Reverend Young that the Stikine 
natives stay away from the Angoon camp, on January 14 a party of 
30 unarmed Stikines did return to demand redress. Accordingly, 
a young Angoon man stepped out to receive a return blow. This 
would have settled the matter if a rash young Stikine had not struck 
him a second time. This led to a fight, in which the Angoon men 
produced hatchets and other weapons, some of which were snatched 
from their hands, with the result that seven men were wounded. 

Mr. Young and Dr. Corlies visited both groups, dressing wounds, 
and urging that the natives meet at Mr. Young’s house next morning 
for a peaceful council. Instead, an armed group of Angoon men came 
to the Stikine village, and despite the efforts of Mr. Young, broke 
into a Stikine house. This precipitated a battle in which shots were 
exchanged. Toyatt, a Christian Stikine chief,®* and two of his people 
were killed, the Angoon people lost two men, and a number of others 
were wounded, some mortally. The rest of the day was spent in 
skirmishing back and forth. The whites formed a Council of Safety 
in an attempt to keep the Indians out of the white town, and sent a 
message to Sitka asking for protection. 

Captain Beardslee sent the requested arms, a gunner and another 
man. The gunner, Charles Stewart, had a talk with the Angoon 
people, and learned the truth of the matter. The Angoon people 
refused the demands of the Stikines that they surrender one of their 
chiefs to balance the death of Toyatt, but they returned home in 
January. Then the Stikines destroyed the guest houses, and Colonel 
Crittenden, the Deputy Collector of Customs, turned the area into a 
garden. This action enraged all the tribes, who in consequence boy- 
cotted the traders at Wrangell, and Captain Beardslee reports that 
had he known of this while he was still in Alaska, he would have done 
all he could to have the guest houses restored. 

The trouble between the Wrangell and Angoon people was finally 
settled when a Stikine chief came to Sitka in March, as did also 
about 40 Angoon people. The latter had come to collect damages 
for the death of one of their women, to whom Katian, the Kixsadi 
chief, had furnished liquor. The latter settled for 50 blankets. 
Captain Beardslee succeeded in bringing together the Stikine chief and 
the Angoon leaders, who promised to keep the peace. 

In August, Captain Beardslee visited Killisnoo where he had a 

33 The name is evidently Toyat*, “Kwakiutl,” the same as that of the Kagwantan chief who built the 


modern house at Grouse Fort in Icy Strait. This suggests that ‘‘Toyatt’? was also a member of the 
Eagle-Wolf moiety, perhaps Nanya’ayi, since this was the most important sib of that division at Wrangell. 


154 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


meeting with the local natives, among whom were ‘“Kitchnath” 
(evidently the chief of the Decitan Steel House, a man also known 
as Killisnoo Jake, or Saginaw Jake), and ‘‘Gandashana”’ or Andrew. 
The Angoon natives again repeated their promise not to renew the 
war on the Stikines, and in case of trouble with the whites to appeal to 
Captain Beardslee, not to seek redress by retaliation. 

The most trustworthy white source available therefore supports 
our informant’s accusation that the missionary was to blame. 

John Muir also has an account of the event, but this is in error on 
several counts (Muir, 1915, pp. 202-204). He confuses the Angoon 
with the Taku people, ascribing the first blow in the face to the Stikines 
and the too violent return blow to a Taku; and he omits all mention 
of Dr. Corlies. He does, however, present Toyatt (Toyatte) in the 
traditional role of heroic and self-sacrificing chief, as well as a peace- 
loving Christian. 


PEACE BETWEEN THE WRANGELL AND ANGOON PEOPLE 


(It is not clear whether the following event marked the official 
closing of the war between the Wrangell and Angoon people related 
above. Walter Sobolof was the son of a Russian priest and trader 
at Killisnoo, and was for a time bookkeeper for the old herring plant 
at Killisnoo. Then he moved to Angoon and opened the Kootznahoo 
Store. He was about 65 years old at the time of his death in the 
summer of 1950. The incident probably took place early in the 
present century). 

Mr. Walter Sobolof was at Killisnoo when the Wrangell people came to make 
peace. Mr. Sobolof used to say that the dances the natives do now aren’t any- 
where near as good as the old ones; they are just poorimitations. When the Killisnoo 
people saw the Wrangell people coming they got excited and ran around the beach. 
Each side took a hostage. They called them “‘deer’” q‘uwak‘an, because deer are 
peaceful and don’t fight. Then each side chose a name for their ‘‘deer.”’ They 
take a long time figuring out what name to give, because the other side maybe 
won’t like the name, and they won’t give back their hostage. The hostages 
have to be of equal rank. [We were not told just what happened on this occasion, 
unfortunately. Hostages were not consulted in the choice of name, but it had to 
imply something good and favorable, and not be subject to misinterpretation.] 

The following series of incidents involving the Sitka Kagwantan 
were all told by the same informant, but not in the form of a con- 
secutive narrative. It is, therefore, possible that in piecing together 
his remarks, I may have confused the order of some of the events. 
They seem to be, however: (1) Defeat of the Kagwantan at Wrangell; 
(2) massacre of the Stikine peace party at Sitka, 1852; (3) attack on 
the Angoon Wuckitan by the Kagwantan; (4) murder of the Wuckitan 
by the Kagwantan at Sitka; (5) peace between the Kagwantan and 
Wrangell natives, 1916. 


de Laguna} THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 155 


DEFEAT OF THE SITKA KAGWANTAN AT WRANGELL 


The Kagwantan people from Sitka had gone to fight with the Wrangell people 
who cleaned up on them.. . . That’s the time the Kagwantan went down there 
before, and the Wrangell people wiped them up.. . . When the Kagwantan 
went down to Wrangell and were almost wiped out, I guess they had one man who 
was pretty good at climbing or so. They got him, so he tried to climb the hill, and 
they had spears underneath if he fell down. He just pretended he couldn’t climb, 
but he got away. 

He said he had a good wife, and there were a lot of them trying to force him. 
He said: ‘‘No, I’ve had enough of that woman.” *4 

He was an expert at climbing cliffs, and they [the Wrangell natives?] dared him. 
Then they had something called stxaau djidji, ‘‘having-claws snowshoes.” He 
said he could climb the cliff, if he had these on. He got going and went right up 
over and notified his people [in Sitka?] what wasup. They had figured that all the 
rest of them [the other Kagwantan in the war party] were killed off, because they 
didn’t behave themselves. They fooled with his wife he left behind. They didn’t 
have enough sense to behave themselves, those warriors—that’s why they met 
their fate. By fooling around with that woman, they had broken the law of 
chastity any way, the old folks say. 

[It is probable that the other Kagwantan who were killed at Wrangell met their 
fate because they had illicit relations with this man’s wife. The informant had 
previously explained that men preparing for a crisis, such as a war or hunting 
expedition, fasted or at least ate sparingly, kept away from their wives for an 
unspecified length of time, and avoided any kind of contact with a menstruating 
woman.] 


MASSACRE OF THE WRANGELL PEACE PARTY AT SITKA 


If a peace is made, they call the dance to make peace g6watakank. The peace 
treaty is called q‘uwak‘an q‘ddziti, ‘‘a deer is born.’”’ It is at this time that they 
take men from either side—either two or three. They are taken as hostages. It 
was during this kind of dance that the Kagwantan massacred the Wrangell Indians 
at Sitka. This happened some time back; the Kagwantans did this while they 
were having a peace dance. They had invited all the Wrangell people to a regular 
peace dance. The Wrangell people were all dressed up and unarmed. They had 
been warned what would take place by the Angoon people. 

The Kagwantan people from Sitka had gone to fight with the Wrangell people 
who cleaned up on them. Then the Sitka people got like a trade, I think. They 
started to buy things from around Wrangell. The Wrangell people were making 
good money. But it was really deceiving work on the part of the Sitka people. 
The Angoon people told the Wrangell people what was going to take place. They 
must have heard someone talking. 

When they had the peace dance at Sitka the Wrangell people came in with no 
weapons. But one of them had some pistols, or whatever they had, and he gave 
them to his wife in case anything happened. He was a “‘deer’”’ and was wearing a 
Chilkat blanket such as they usually put on a “‘deer.’?’ When trouble came he 
threw the blanket off. He had chewed at the thongs so that they would be wet 
and undo easily. 

[The informant explained that when a man was a ‘‘deer”’ he was always waited 
on hand and foot. He had to stand still without moving his arms, and was not 


4 From a version of this story recorded at Yakutat it appears that the Wrangell men were forcing homo- 
sexual relations upon their Kagwantan captive. The original cause of the war was the elopment of the wife 
of a Sitka Kagwantan man with her lover from Wrangell. 


156 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


supposed to do anything for himself. ‘It was like he was a bishop or something.” 
Apparently, for him to move his arms in order to loosen the thongs which tied the 
blanket at his neck would be like “‘breaking a law of nature.’’] But his wife had 
gone against him. She had spit right in the place where the powder goes in the 
gun, so that the gun wouldn’t fire. [The informant did not know to what group the 
wife belonged, but it seems likely that she was a Kagwantan or at least a Sitka 
woman.]. . 

Yashka, the old man in Sitka, used to tell me of his experience when the Kagwan- 
tan were going to have the peace dance at Sitka. The warrior Yak¥an was on the 
Kagwantan side.** The old man said that he was the one who came first into the 
dance and was in front of Yak¥an. Yak*¥an had asheet and aspearunderit. This 
old man, Yashka, who was a Kiksadi, was right in front of Yak¥an, and that was 
how they hid the spear. 

They announced that Yakvan was coming. He was like their general. When 
they said this he opened the sheet and took the spear and threw Yashka aside with 
it. He was a very strong man and he speared right through two men. A Kagwan- 
tan man had yelled: “‘Yakvan de’anagut!”’ This means ‘‘Yakwan is on the way.” 
This was the signal for his side to be on their toes, and he threw Yashka aside, 
gave a yell and the whole thing started .. . 

They would bring back the scalps of the dead. It is dried with the hair. The 
Wrangell man who was deceived at Sitka [the ‘‘deer’’]—they dried his scalp with 
all the hair. The scalp of this great warrior hangs and they said that even if there 
was no wind it always moved. He was one of the great Wrangell warriors when 
the Wrangell people were massacred at Sitka 

The moving scalp of the Wrangell man who was deceived in this dance made all 
the old people marvel. He must have been pretty mad when he was massacred. 
I forget his name. Probably he was the man whose wife had the two pistols. He 
was ready to take YakYan’s challenge. They took him for a “deer” because they 
knew he was a strong warrior. It must be a leader from the other side they take 
for a ‘‘deer.”” I don’t know why they took his scalp. It must be the same as an 
honorable burial. It must have been a token of respect to a warrior. The scalp 
was in a Kagwantan’s house after that massacre. 

On account of what his wife did, they always say ‘‘Women are never to be 
trusted.”” The people involved in these fights won’t even dare talk about it. 


This incident is evidently the same one mentioned by Tikhmenev 
who wrote: 


The most treacherous murder in 1852 by the Tlingits from Sitka of 40 of their 
tribesmen from Stakhina when these arrived to end by peace a feud of long stand- 
ing could have been prevented by sternness on the part of the Administrator 
General of the colonies. Plundering by the Stakhina Tlingits of a Company’s 
establishment on Sulpher Springs when they were seeking their enemies also would 
not have taken place.%6 


A young Indian woman from Juneau whom I met in the summer of 
1931 told me that after the massacre of the Wrangell natives by the 
Kagwantan of Sitka, the victors cut off the heads of the most impor- 


35 Swanton, 1908, p. 405, lists Yakw&’n, as “Swimming Wolf,” chief of Qotxa’ naxa, “‘Star House,” of the 
Kagwantan, and further specifies that ‘‘this man led in the last great fight with the Stikine Indians.” 
Yashka was the Russian nickname for a man named Katian. 

36 Tikhmenev: Historical survey of the establishment of the Russian American Company and of its ac- 
tivities up to the present time, vol. 2, pp. 205-211, St. Petersberg, 1863, MS. translation by Dimitri Krenov, 
in the Library of Congress. Quoted, Gsovski, 1950, p. 67. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 157 


tant victims and carefully preserved them. ‘These heads were dis- 
played on their triumphal return to Sitka and were later redeemed by 
relatives of the slain men. Some of the heads, however, are said to 
remain to this day in the possession of the Sitka Indians. From her 
account, the massacre would seem to have taken place at Wrangell, 
and she dated it in the last quarter of the 19th century, when the 
Reverend Young first came to Alaska. I suspect, however, that she 
is wrong about both the place and the date of this event, and that she 
is actually referring to the massacre at Sitka in 1852 (de Laguna, 
1933, p. 744). 


ATTACK ON THE ANGOON WUCKITAN BY THE SITKA KAGWANTAN 


When they were having trouble after this with the Wuckitan, the latter were 
prepared. The Sitka Kagwantan were having a dance, and some of the Wuckitan 
went, but a big group sat at home with their rifles, and they were going to clean 
up on them if anything happened. This was in the time of Inqut’a’a (the grand- 
father of the chief of the Teq*edi Valley House who died in 1940). When 
the Kagwantan were over here fighting the Wuckitan up where Fort House 
is [near the center of Angoon], a sharpshooter used to sit on top of the fort and 
knock off the Kagwantan men one by one when they came out of the woods. 
The Kagwantan were all in the woods around back by the schoolhouse [i. e., be- 
hind its present site]. This man was a real sharpshooter. The Kagwantan were 
losing a lot of men, so they left. The day after they left a lot of Auke Wuckitan 
came. They called on the Sitka Kagwantan to come out and have a showdown, 
but the Kagwantan had already gone. They had gone the day before. . 
When the Kagwantan came here to fight the Wuckitan they must have had a 
doctor along to warn them that the Auke Bay Wuckitan were coming. 


MURDER OF THE WUCKITAN BY THE KAGWANTAN AT SITKA 


My father had a nu hit, “‘Fort House,” in Sitka. The Wuckitan there used to 
have trouble with the Kagwantan. There was a Wuckitan daughter married to 
a Kagwantan at Sitka. At some drunken brawl, the hatred for the Kagwantan 
flared up. The Kagwantan challenged the Wuckitan to come out [of Fort 
House] and fight. My grandfather, Cuwika, [mother’s father, a Wuckitan] was 
a small boy. The Kagwantan son-in-law was pushing the Kagwantan away 
from his father-in-law’s door. The Wuckitan inside did not know what was 
going on. Finally the Kagwantan got bold enough to hit on the house with a 
hammer. Then the Wuckitan shot out of the door and they killed their own 
son-in-law and another Kagwantan man. 

Then all the Wuckitan were killed off. My grandpa’s older brother and another 
relative knew they were going to die. They would look outside to see what 
Kagwantan were outside. They would find out who the Kagwantan man they 
saw was, because they wanted to shoot only those who were equal in rank to them- 
selves. The Wuckitan had a good sharpshooter. But finally all the Wuckitan 
were killed by the Kagwantan, except for that little boy, my grandfather, who was 
hidden on the floor so he escaped. 

Later he wouldn’t like any rough talk. He felt sorry when he grew up that he 
hadn’t been old enough to fight. 

The Kiksadi were neutral. They acted as go-betweens and they took care of 
my grandfather. They acted as though they were the father of the dead men 


158 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


and they burned the house down. My father built nu hit at that place later, 
because his Wuckitan people were killed there. 

Swanton lists Fort House as the only house of the Wuckitan at 
Sitka. The chief was Da’ttkéts!a’té, “Stomach of Wolf’? (Swanton, 
1908, p. 405). 

Our informant indicated that a peace ceremony was held finally by 
the Kagwantan and the Wuckitan. When the Alaska Native 
Brotherhood was founded in 1912, they tried to make peace between 
the Sitka Kagwantan and the Wrangell people. But this was not 
achieved until the day before the United States entered World War I 
(de Laguna, 1933, p. 744). 


RECENT HISTORY OF ANGOON 
INTRODUCTION 


Although some of the events described in the preceding section 
fall clearly within what would be recognized as modern times by 
both the white man and the native, and others may be of no great 
age, yet these belong to sequences of events that are tied to the more 
remote and uncertain past, or else have been seen through native eyes 
in much the same way that purely legendary events have been seen. 
Our sources of information have been largely the traditional histories 
of the various sibs. We pass now into the more modern history of 
Angoon, modern either because it is well documented by historical 
written records, or modern because the episodes fall entirely within 
the memory of living persons. Our division is not, therefore, strictly 
chronological. 


DESTRUCTION OF ANGOON, 1882 


The destruction of Angoon by United States naval forces in 1882 
is probably that incident in the community’s history which is today 
most prominent in the minds of the people. All know the story, 
for it occurred in the childhood of elderly men still living or only 
recently deceased, and one of the cannon balls with which the town 
was shelled was found not long ago and reportedly sent to the Terri- 
torial Museum in Juneau. The versions of the story, obtained in 
1949 and 1950 from an old man who was a boy at the time, and from 
another man who heard the story from an eyewitness, permit of com- 
parison with various reports by whites. 

It is interesting that the natives today, like the author of the 
volume on Alaska in the Eleventh United States Census of 1890 
(Porter, 1893, p. 264), explain that the whole trouble was due to a 
misunderstanding between whites and natives, that is, ignorance of 
each other’s ways. While no general hostility toward whites is now 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 159 


felt, the Angoon people still believe that they were greviously wronged 
and are entitled to compensation for their sufferings. This is brought 
up whenever there is resentment over taxes, restrictive game laws, 
or encroachment by whites on lands and fishing grounds claimed by 
the natives. The event is important because it apparently involved 
all sibs equally, though not, I judge, all families, and has thereby 
helped to strengthen community solidarity. The event also serves 
as a time marker, a date to which old people who, of course, do not 
know their age in years, can refer when qualifying for old-age pensions. 


HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 


To understand how Angoon came to be destroyed, it should be 
remembered that between the purchase of Alaska in 1867 and 1885 
there was literally no government of any sort in Alaska, and before 
that, Russian dominion in southeastern Alaska had never extended 
outside the fortifications of New Archangel at Sitka. The United 
States military garrisons which had occupied a few towns since the 
purchase had been withdrawn early in the summer of 1877, leaving 
as the only representatives of the Federal Government a customs 
collector at Sitka and deputy collectors at such towns as Wrangell 
and Tongas. Some of the latter, like Isaac C. Dennis at Wrangell, 
assumed more authority than they actually possessed, relying upon 
bold action and bluff to maintain a semblance of law and order in 
the town where they were stationed. From time to time, a United 
States revenue or naval vessel, on a cruise through Alaskan waters, 
temporarily represented the armed might of the Government. The 
natives had possessed firearms since the latter part of the 18th century, 
and were still proud and independent tribes. Those near the towns 
had been debauched by the Army garrisons, and by the Cassiar 
miners who made Wrangell their headquarters. Despite laws against 
the importation of liquor to Alaska, the traders and saloonkeepers 
had plenty, and the natives had learned how to distill a kind of rum 
called ‘‘hoochenoo,”’ so-called because they had originally been 
taught by an ex-soldier at Killisnoo. (Swan, 1875, in Morris, 1879, 
p. 146.) 

There had been many clashes between natives and whites, most of 
which had been provoked by the whites themselves, or brought about 
indirectly through the white man’s liquor (Bancroft, 1886, pp. 606- 
624; Beardslee, 1882, p. 50). It is quite evident that most of the 
whites concerned were either ignorant of or lacked sympathy with the 
Indians’ principles of justice which were based upon the payment of 
damages for any injury, even though accidentally inflicted. The 
recognition at that time of something equivalent to our present con- 
ception of liability, especially of employers’ liability, would have 


160 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


prevented most of these affairs from getting out of hand.*** Captain 
Beardslee, commanding the U. S. S. Jamestown, stationed at Sitka 
from June 1879 to September 1880, was one of the few white men in 
a position of authority who took the trouble to study 

the customs, laws, and superstitions of the Indians, in order that I might be able, 
through knowledge thus acquired, to reduce the hostility which had arisen between 
them and the whites, and to bring the two races into harmonious relations. [He 
was also among the few who could say that the Indians] are not naturally savage 
[Beardslee, 1882, p. 13]. According to Indian law the man who gets another 
drunk is responsible for the acts committed by him while in that state, and for his life 
if he dies or is killed. Thus at the very root of the difficulty I found the acts of 
bad white men .. . If an Indian dies while in the house of another, or is killed 
while in the employ of another, the house-owner or employer is responsible. 
The Indians seldom fail to yield to this, the very foundation of their laws, and a 
refusal to make equitable settlement is always a cause of war. [Ibid., p. 45.] 


This principle, as we shall see, was at the bottom of the trouble at 
Angoon. 

The withdrawal of the Army garrisons in the spring of 1877 left 
the whites, especially at Sitka, fearful of serious trouble with the 
Indians. Morris, the special agent for the Treasury, predicted in 
1878 that this would eventually come, not from 
any studied plan of revenge for injuries, real or fancied, but will be the result of 
brutality and oppression upon the part of the white man, and craze, fear, deviltry, 
and intellect besotted by rum, upon the part of the Indian race [Morris, 1879, 
p. 126]. 

Many persons, probably exaggerating the likelihood of an Indian 
uprising, nevertheless felt like M. P. Berry, Collector of Customs at 
Sitka in July 1877, that: 

If there is not a vessel dispatched at a very early date to this port, this people 


will have been handed over bodily for slaughter to the Indians. [Morris, 1879, 
p. 24.] 


The means by which the whites might be protected and the Indians 
punished for any aggresive act were clearly envisioned. There should 
be sent to Alaska ‘‘an armed vessel . . . able to destroy their villages 
and canoes as a means of overawing them, because do this, and their 
accumulation of, perhaps years of toil and industry are swept away, 
and their very means of livelihood taken from them.” * 

This type of punitive action had already been inflicted upon the 
Stikine and Kake Indians in 1869. The latter episode is also. of 
interest because it involved at least one Angoon chief, and so it may 
be mentioned here. In January 1869, the Kakes had murdered, 
without known provocation, two white men at what became known 


36a Cf. Morris, 1879, pp. 131 f., and Beardslee, 1882, pp. 65 f., for examples of cases in which prompt payment 
of damages was effective. 

87 Capt. J. W. White, commanding the U. S. revenue vessel Thomas Corwin, letter of October 4, tents 
in Morris, 1879, p. 139. Morris concurred in this; cf. his letter of April 14, 1877, on p. 22. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 161 


as Murder Cove, the present site of Tyee Cannery on southern Ad- 
miralty Island, and had mutilated the bodies. On January 14 and 15, 
Lieutenant Commander Meade, commanding the U. S. 8S. Saginaw, 
destroyed a town and three villages (totaling 35 houses), two stockaded 
forts, and a number of canoes in Saginaw and Security Bays, Kuiu 
Island, in reprisal for the murders. Up to 1880 these villages had 
not been rebuilt (Beardslee, 1882, p. 54). Among the Indians taken 
prisoner during this raid and confined for a time at Mare Island near 
San Francisco was the Angoon man ‘“Kitchnath,” also known as 
Saginaw Jakeor KillisnooJake. Heis evidently the chief of the Decitan 
Steel House. Captain Beardslee, who later assumed command, won 
his friendship and that of the other prisoners by his fair treatment, 
and we again meet this Indian in August 1880, now restored to his 
people, when he was among the chiefs who promised Beardslee not 
to renew their feud with the Stikine Indians at Wrangell (see p. 154). 
He is perhaps the ‘‘Lonigon Jake”’ who conferred with Captain Merri- 
man after the destruction of Angoon (see below). Killisnoo Jake 
later became a native policeman at Killisnoo. 

It will not be necessary to follow in any detail the course of the 
various frictions and adjustments between whites and Indians, except 
to note that it was generally believed that serious trouble between 
the whites at Sitka and the Kiksadi had been averted only by the 
presence at Sitka from March 1 to April 3, 1879, by H. M.S. Osprey, 
that had come in response to an urgent appeal. Captain Beardslee, 
who came with the U. S. S. Jamestown in June of that year, found 
that the fears of the whites had been greatly exaggerated, and that 
the leading Krksadi chief, ‘‘Katlaan’”’ (Kaxian), was not only innocent 
of any plot against the whites, but was actually cooperative in 
restoring better relations (Beardslee, 1882, pp. 14 f., 45-48). Captain 
Beardslee was extraordinarily successful in winning the good will of 
the Indians, by enlisting the Kagwantan chief “Annahootz’” and the 
Krksadi chief “‘Katlaan” in an unofficial police force, by forming a 
council of chiefs to deal with breaches of the peace committed by the 
Indians, and by himself acting as arbitrator in their disputes. He 
did not, however, secure the cooperation of the whites in limiting 
the sale to the Indians of the ingredients for the manufacture of 
‘“hoochenoo”’ (ibid., pp. 46-48, 50, 55). He formed a rather poor 
opinion in general of the whites at Sitka and of their ability to manage 
their own community affairs. Nor did he approve of the arrests 
ordered by the Customs Collector, M. D. Ball, who was acting as chief 
magistrate for a ‘Provisional Government,” which was for a time 
established by the Americans at Sitka, since he felt that the natives 
and ‘‘creoles’” (Russian halfbreeds) arrested by Ball, were ‘‘more 
worthy of charity than punishment” (ibid., pp. 27 f.). It should also 


162 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


be added that Captain Beardslee did not share in the belief of many 
of the whites that extreme punitive action against the natives would 
be wise. ‘Further, any bombardment of an Indian village, especially 
the one at Sitka, would inflict injury upon friends and foes alike, for 
in nearly every tribe are some families who are friendly, and these 
are generally the most powerful, they having amassed riches through 
trade with the whites” (ibid., p. 44). He also quotes with approval 
a communication from Capt. H. Holmes A’Court, commanding 
H. M. S. Osprey, who writes: “I am also of the opinion that the 
destruction of the Indian villages is a matter that admits of a question, 
as there are a great number of friendly Indians, who have lodges and 
property there, the destruction of which, and possibly loss of some of 
their lives, would be to make them cast their lot with the others” 
(ibid., p. 14). 

Beardslee’s reputation of fair dealing evidently spread among 
many Indian groups, for he was able to establish friendly relations 
even with the fierce and arrogant Chilkat (ibid., pp. 57-79) but, as it 
will become evident, many of the whites felt that his policies were 
too lax. Commander Merriman, his successor, was to present a great 
contrast, welcomed by the whites, but all the more irritating to the 
Indians who had known Beardslee. 

In 1878 the Northwest Trading Company established a trading 
post on Killisnoo (‘‘Kenasnow’’) Island. The following year the 
company began in an experimental way the extraction of herring oil 
and the manufacture of fertilizer (‘guano’’) from the fish remains. 
In 1880 a whaling station was opened here, because of the presence 
of many fin-backed whales that fed on the herring, and apparently 
some of the Angoon people began to settle on Killisnoo Island.®* 
In 1880, Edward De Groff was in charge of the trading post; Carl 
Spuhn and J. M. Vanderbilt were managers of the company at 
Killisnoo, and the last two were also there in 1882 (Beardslee, 1882, 
pp. 67, 70). 

The troubles between the natives and the whites at Killisnoo which 
culminated with the destruction of Angoon in 1882, events which 
occurred only 2 years after the discovery of gold at Juneau and the 
founding of the mining towns of Juneau and Douglas, had a profound 
effect upon the history of Alaska. The Congress was no longer able to 
ignore the pleas for a civil government in the Territory, and in 1884 
passed legislation giving to the Territory status as a civil district of 
the United States. The following year the Territorial Government 
was really established (Porter, 1893, pp. 19, 264 f.). 


8 Porter, 1893, p. 238, reports that whaling was discontinued that same year, an obvious error. More 
correct is the statement on p. 51 that ‘‘Killisnoo was first [sic] established as a whaling station, but after 
difficulties with the natives [in 1882] the catch was changed to herrings.” 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 163 


In telling the story of the destruction of Angoon, we shall first 
present the reports of the whites, later contrasting them with the 
Indian versions of the events. The most important documents are 
those consulted by Bancroft, although his summary is not completely 
accurate (Bancroft, 1886, p. 619, note 53, p. 744, note 12). These 
are: a letter from M. A. Healy, First Lieutenant of the United States 
Revenue Marine (Coast Guard), commanding the Corwin, November 
20, 1882; a letter from Wm. Gouverneur Morris, Collector of Customs 
at Sitka, October 28, 1882, who was aboard the Corwin; the report of 
Comdr. E. C. Merriman, USN., commanding the U. S. S. Adams, 
October 28, 1882, who was in charge of the expedition. The latter 
includes orders to Lieut. C. W. Bartlett, USN, dated October 23, 
26, and 29. Also of interest is a letter by Mrs. Eugene S. Willard, a 
missionary’s wife, written at Sitka on October 30, 1882, and evidently 
based on conversations with Commander Merriman. 


LETTER OF MORRIS 


Morris, collector of customs at Sitka, who accompanied the punitive 
expedition, was evidently in accord with the severe measures taken. 
He reports that the Navy had been trying to suppress the Indian 
custom of demanding compensation, usually in blankets, for injury 
to an Indian, either by another native or by a white man. He writes: 


Shortly previous to the case at bar, whilst an Indian was cutting down a tree 
for the Northwest Trading Company at Killisnoo, he was warned of the danger, 
and continued in a position of peril. The tree feil and killed him. Immediately a 
certain number of blankets were levied as a fine upon the company by his rela- 
tives, and payment demanded. The company refused, of course. Matters re- 
mained in status quo until the Adams, Commander Merriman, arrived in these 
waters. He touched at Killisnoo on his way to this port [Sitka], and complaint 
was made to him of this exaction, by the superintendent of the company. He 
informed the Indians that in the future no such payments should either be de- 
manded or enforced as far as white men were concerned; that if they persisted in 
such course he would punish them severely, and that in this instance the company 
would and should not pay. They submitted with bad grace. 

On the night of October 22, whilst this company were whaling in the Kootzenoo 
Lagoon, a bomb, shot from the whaleboat at a whale, accidentally exploded and 
killed an Indian shaman, who composed one of the crew; whereupon the latter 
immediately arose, and aided by about one hundred Indians, overpowered the 
two white men in the boat and took them prisoners; captured the boat, nets, 
whaling gear, and steam launch of the company, valued at several thousand 
dollars, and demanded payment of two hundred blankets for the dead man. The 
white men were kept close prisoners. A plan was formed to murder the engineer 
of the launch, who fortunately did not take the trail expected. 


Lieutenant Healy’s briefer account adds only the information that 
the Northwestern Trading Company refused payment, and that the 
Indians then threatened to burn the store, other buildings, and boats, 
and to kill the two white men. 


164 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


To continue with Morris’ letter: 


Capt. J. M. Vanderbilt, the superintendent, at once got up steam on the 
company’s tugboat Favorite, and started with his family post haste to Sitka for 
aid from the naval commander. The Indians endeavored to cut off the Favorite, 
but failed. 

As soon as Vanderbilt reported the facts to Commander Merriman, the latter 
put a howitzer and Gatiing gun on the Favorite, sought the co-operation of the 
revenue steamer Corwin, then in port, and as early as practicable, with a force of 
about one hundred marines and sailors, started for the scene of action, picking 
up his steam launch on the way. I accompanied the expedition. 

Upon arriving at the lagoon, matters were found exactly as represented by 
Vanderbilt; the men stiil prisoners; the Indians increasing in force and very much 
excited. Commander Merriman lost no time in arresting the ringleaders and got 
the two principal chiefs of the tribe on board the Corwin, and informed them that, 
instead of the Northwest Trading Company paying anything to them, he should 
inflict upon them a fine of four hundred blankets, payable the next morning, under 
penalty of having their canoes destroyed and principal village shelled and burnt. 

So temporizing has been the policy pursued within the past two years by the 
Navy [i. e., by Beardslee] toward the Siwashes ** that they evidently thought this 
a game of bluff. They were surly and impertinent, and affected not to think that 
Commander Merriman would put his threat into execution. They, however, took 
precautions to make use of the intervening night in taking to a place of security 
their large canoes and valuables. 

On the following day, the Indians having failed to come to time, Commander 
Merriman made good his threat, destroyed their canoes, shelled and burned their 
village. 


Morris concludes that there was 


the absolute necessity . . . for such harsh measures being adopted ... The 
Hoochenoos are a rich and warlike tribe, very insolent and saucy towards the 
whites. Not long ago they proceeded to Wrangell and attacked the church 
Indians there, killing several, amongst them Toyatt, a missionary Indian, a very 
useful and intelligent man... 

Once let it be understood by the Siwashes that the life of a white man is sacred, 
and that they will be severely handled if they harm him, there will be no danger 
or difficulty in small parties [of miners] traversing the country in search of mineral 
and other wealth. [Morris seems to have forgotten that Captain Beardslee by 
more peaceful means made just this possible, even to securing permission from the 
unfriendly Chilkats for miners to use their routes into the interior (Beardslee, 
1882, pp. 59-66)]. 


REPORT OF COMMANDER MERRIMAN 


This report includes the orders given to Lieut. C. W. Bartlett, USN, 
commanding expedition to Kenasnow Rapids (Kootznahoo Inlet). 

The first part adds little not already covered by Morris’ letter, 
except the statement that the Indians threatened that “they would 
kill the white men and destroy the fishing steamer and boats unless 
paid two hundred blankets.”’ 


39 Although this word for Indian is presumably an ordinary word in Chinook jargon, it carries a connota- 
tion, both to whites and Indians, of contempt. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 165 


As soon as Commander Merriman had received Vanderbilt’s report, 
he organized a force of 50 men and 20 marines, under Lieutenant 
Bartlett of the U. S. S. Adams, and sent him in the tug boat Favorite 
toward Angoon. On the way they were to pick up a party in the 
Adam’s steam launch, Jamestown, under Ensign H. Taylor, who were 
surveying in Neoski Strait (Whilistone Narrows). The revenue 
steamer Corwin was then coaling at Sitka, and her commanding 
officer offered his ship to Merriman, because the Adams was felt to 
be too big to operate at Angoon. The Favorite got underway about 
3 a.m., and the Corwin, with Captain Healy, Commander Merriman, 
and Mr. Morris, left at 7 a. m. on October 24. They overtook the 
Favorite and the steam launch, taking the latter in tow, and though 
delayed by bad weather in Peril Strait, reached Killisnoo Harbor 
(‘““Keteosoh Harbor’’) on the 25th of October 


to see if the Indians had molested the stores of the merchants. I found them all 
absent, and that none of the Indians were allowed to work, and that they still held 
possession of the white men, the steamer and the boats.‘ 

We immediately steamed around to the lagoon [Kootznahoo Inlet] where the 
property and people were detained. I held a powwow with the Indians, Lieu- 
tenant Bartlet and Ensign Taylor in the meantime collecting all the canoes they 
could find. The Indians demanded two hundred blankets in payment for the 
accidental death of the medicine-man. 

For instance, if our surgeon attended a sick man, and he died, they would de- 
mand pay. If a boat capsized and drowned an Indian, they make the man who 
originally directed the boat to be built pay for the man if they can get him, other- 
wise the present owner has to suffer. 

I had explained to them on my previous visit the fallacy of any claim where the 
death was purely accidental. I ascertained that they had attempted to destroy 
the boats, and that they were only waiting for another white man to put two to 
death. One of the men captured had but one eye, and they wanted a whole one, 
or one with two eyes. I told them I demanded a fine of four hundred blankets, or 
double what they tried to get, and gave them twenty-four hours to bring them in. 

They said they would do so, but went to the village of Angoon, drew their 
canoes up in the woods, took their winter food and blankets and their women and 
children with them and sent me word that they would not furnish the blankets; 
that if we attempted to land they would fire on us, and would defend the town if 
we attempted to burnit. I then sent the chiefs to tell them if they did not furnish 
the blankets I would destroy their canoes and shell the town. 

When the time was up [October 26], after ascertaining without their knowledge 
that their women and children were in the woods, I proceeded to the village [An- 
goon], after capturing two of the leaders. As soon as the village was in range, the 
Corwin opened fire, and the Favorite following, opened fire with the howitzer, 
she having previously destroyed the canoes and the principal houses in the 
lagoon.‘1 I purposely spared some houses, although apparently accidentally, 
sufficient to house the Indians for the winter. After shelling the town for a time, 


40 The following division into paragraphs has been made in Merriman’s unbroken narrative. 

41 Healy specified that 40 canoes were destroyed but that the houses of friendly Indians were spared. 
Bancroft (1886, p. 723, note 12) identifies the houses in the lagoon as being at Killisnoo, but it is clear from the 
context that they were in Kootznahoo Inlet, at such places as Turn, Sullivan, and Channel Points. 


166 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


Lieutenant Bartlett landed his force in the Corwin’s boats and our whale boat, 
and fired the village, sparing five additional houses... 

Merriman’s orders to Bartlett on October 26 were to go up the 

“lagoon” (Inlet) behind Angoon with the Favorite and Jamestown, 
rescue the employees of the Northwest Trading Company that were 
held prisoner, and to retake the steam launch and other company 
property from the Indians. The latter would probably try to board 
the Favorite, thinking that only the company employees were aboard. 
Treat the Indians kindly if they show a peaceful disposition . . . Should the 
Indians show fight attack them vigorously. 
Meanwhile the Corwin was to come off the Chatham Strait side of 
Angoon. Signals indicating that an attack was beginning were speci- 
fied; if given, the other party would go to the aid of the one beginning 
the attack. 


Get possession of every canoe you can, and get all the Indians to come to the white 
settlement possible . . . Should the Indians forcibly resist after knowing your 
intentions, do not hesitate; open fire at once, and I will immediately come to your 
support in the Corwin. Use all diplomacy possible first, however. 

Healy’s report would indicate that the two white men and the 
company property were released immediately upon the arrival of the 
Coruin at Angoon, and that Merriman then made his demand for 400 
blankets. Yet the orders to Bartlett show that the white men and the 
company’s property were still in the possession of the Indians for a 
good 24 hours after the demand had been made for the blankets. It 
is probable that they were rescued by Bartlett while the Corwin was 
shelling Angoon. It is a rather puzzling matter that Commander 
Merriman did not attempt to rescue the white men sooner, for surely 
his demand for an indemnity would have been likely to enrage the 
Indians and so further endanger their lives. Furthermore, he nowhere 
reports specifically that he tried to secure the release of the prisoners 
at his first meeting with the Indians. Nor does he tell us specifically 
that the men actually were rescued, much less when, or in what con- 
dition they were found. He seems throughout to have been far more 
concerned with fining and punishing the Indians. His narrative 
continues: 

After burning the town I directed the Indians to come to the trading post 
where I would talk tothem. A crowd came about 8 p. m., with the Chief Kenalkos 
[Chief of the Decitan tuqa hit] and Loginon Jake [Chief of the Decitan Steel 
House ?]. I told them in substance what I had said before, that while the 
government felt friendly to them and wanted them to till the soil and fish and 
hunt, and would protect them in pursuing their peaceful avocations, it would put 
down with a vigorous hand any attempt to seize and injure white men or their 
property, or to distill rum. They replied that they would never attempt any- 
thing of the kind again; that the old men and chiefs had tried to restrain the 
young men, but were unable to do so; that as a lesson to the young men and 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 167 


squaws they were glad I had burned the village [!]. To those who had rendered 
service to the whites by protecting them I gave small presents. To one old medi- 
cine-man and a herculean squaw, who had quietly brought their guns to the 
white men’s cabins and declared their intention of defending them and the prop- 
erty of the trading company, I gave letters, with large seals attached, recounting 
their services. I am told they think more of these than anything else, as it gives 
them much importance in the tribes. 

Lieutenant Bartlett returns to Killisnoo tomorrow [October 30] with a detach- 
ment of twenty-five men, and will remain during the fishing season, or about 
three weeks. I have directed Lieutenant Bartlett to proceed to the village of 
Neltushkin, about 14 miles below Kilisloo, and raid the village for distilleries, as 
they are making large quantities of koo-che-hoo there. I have further directed 
him to call the headmen and as many of the tribe as possible together, and tell 
them that they must look upon the man-of-war as their best friend if they behave 
themselves, and to assure them of our protection and care, but that they must 
not make rum or interfere with the white men fishing, as they have threatened to 
cut the seines if any fishing is done there except themselves; but I do not appre- 
hend any difficulty whatever. 


Orders given to Bartlett at Sitka on October 29 said that at Kil- 
lisnoo: 


You will in every way possible endeavor to bring about a friendly feeling on the 
part of the Indians, and as far as possible among themselves, and encourage their 
sending their boys over here to school. 


At Neltushkin: 


As they may not understand properly the cause of our burning Angoon, you will 
explain it to them and make them feel that the government is friendly to them, 
but will put down quickly any attempt at making or selling liquor, or any dis- 
turbance. You will also do everything in your power to induce them to send 
their children to school . . . If obliged to resort to extreme measures you must 
use your judgment, 


LETTER OF MRS. WILLARD 


Mrs. Willard, the missionary’s wife, wrote from Sitka on October 
30, 1882 (Willard, 1884, pp. 237-239): 


They are having great trouble in Kill-is-noo, about halfway between here and 
Chilcat, where the North-west Trading Company have their chief post, store, 
and great whale-fishery and oil-works. While they were putting up the wharf 
in the spring, one of the Indians was accidentally killed by the falling of a tree. 
As he was in the company’s employ, of course, in the eyes of Indian law, they 
were responsible, and a payment of two hundred blankets was demanded. The 
company agreed to pay forty, but Captain Merriman, of the man-of-war Adams, 
ordered that no payment should be made.*2 

Things have gone on, until Sabbath before last, when the launch and whale- 
boat were out after a whale, a harpoon-bomb burst, and one of the Indians—a 
medicine-man—was killed. Ina very short time about three hundred of the tribe 
had surrounded the boats, which they captured, taking the white men prisoners. 


42It seems likely that 40 blankets would have been accepted by the Indians. It seems to have been 
customary to demand more than was expected or felt necessary, and similar cases of accidental death had 
been settled at Sitka for about an equal number of blankets. 


460927—60——_12 


168 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 17z 


The captain of the launch made out to send a line of advice to Captain Vanderbilt, 
in the village, that they would take the Favorite too. The note was carried by 
one of the Indians who had been in the boat with the medicine-man and escaped 
to the woods from his people. Captain Vanderbilt at once conveyed his family 
to the Favorite, and leaving in the night, ran down here for the man-of-war. 
Arriving the next evening, he left his family and started back at twelve o’clock 
the same night, accompanied by the Corwin, in charge of Captain Merriman and 
his force. Four hundred blankets were demanded for taking the whites prisoners. 
The Indians said they would not pay. The captain gave the people two hours 
to remove their things, then commanded the guns to fire; and away went the 
village, all but four houses which he wished saved; forty canoes were broken. He 
said “if he was called there to settle any more such troubles there would not be a 
man left to tell there ever was such a tribe.”’ The effect of this on our people will 
be of the utmost moment to us [i. e. she is worried about the future attitude of the 
Chilkats towards herself and her husband]; but the Lord is God and will care for 
his own work, 


Bancroft also consulted an account in the San Francisco Bulletin, 
November 13, 1882. This is perhaps the source of the statement that 
the huts which had remained standing after the shelling were looted 
and then burned by the landing party (Bancroft, 1886, p. 619, note 55). 


ANGOON VERSIONS 


The following accounts of the destruction of Angoon were obtained 
from the natives. The first is a statement made by an elderly man, 
who said he was 14 years old and was in Favorite Bay at the time. 
He spoke through an interpreter in 1949. The second version was 
obtained from this same man in 1950 on a wire recorder, and different 
interpreters translated his speech from the wire. The third version 
is compiled from remarks made on two different occasions by one of 
the interpreters. 

VERSION 1 


At that time they used to do whaling at the factory at Killisnoo. It was before 
the time when the herring plant was started there. A whale came up inside 
Kootznahoo Inlet. When they fired at it, the whale gun exploded, and a piece 
hit a medicine man on the head and killed him. He was ‘til’Len, ‘“Big Dog Salm- 
on” [the informant’s uncle. The informant’s older brother is named after him]. 
The people went to work afterwards and tied up the boat. They wanted the 
boat to stop whaling until the dead man was buried. 

The white people at Killisnoo got scared and sent word to Sitka that the 
Indians were preparing for war. This was not true. They only wanted the boat 
quiet for two days until they buried him. He was an important man. The 
Tlingit didn’t know what the whites wanted until the Coast Guard came out and 
they heard the shells and saw the smoke. They were up the Inlet getting herring. 
They used to have root cellars back of the community [lineage] houses. [The 
implication is that when these burned it made a lot of smoke.] Then this place, 
Angoon, was already burning. Six children died from the smoke. 

The boat called the Favorite led the Coast Guard into the Inlet. They went 
up Favorite Bay after they burned the village and got all the people’s canoes and 
chopped them up. The people stayed where they were. They couldn’t move 


de Laguna] THR STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 169 


down, and everything they had at Angoon was gone. People lived that winter 
on oil they had put up, and went hunting, and caught fish in the streams. They 
suffered plenty. 


The interpreter added that her father, the informant, was about 16 
years old at the time. He doesn’t like to think about it. The in- 
formant added that he wants someone to do something about it. 
He thinks the people ought to get something for their sufferings. 


VERSION 2 


This account was recorded in Tlingit on wire in 1950 by the same 
man who gave the first version in 1949. The following translation has 
been compiled from the translations given by four interpreters who 
heard the wire recording. It is not only a rather free translation, but 
also probably a repetitious one. 


I would like you to hear me, respectable people. We have been living here at 
Angoon for a long time, for many years. At first the beaver’s trail ran across this 
isthmus. That is why we moved over to this place from different towns. We 
came together from teukudi [unidentified], from gEexEt‘v-’4n [Stillwater Anchorage], 
from k‘et’mntci-’an [Killisnoo Harbor], from catxiwustin-’an [Sullivan Point]. 
We all moved together to make one village. It was a pleasing place. That was 
a long time ago. 

I am already an old man. I was a young man when our village was spoiled. 
White people spoiled it. They left us homeless on the beach. I know it well, 
the history of our town, Angoon. My name is Languc-’u, ‘‘Homeless Raven.”’ 
That is the man who is telling you the story now, who never received any help 
from the Government. 

But there is no help from anywhere, from the Government. See how our lives 
are. We never received help from anything. The Government helped other 
towns with many things, but it has never yet helped us. 

You will think about my story. If you wish, you can question me about the 
burning of our town, Angoon. If you wish, I will repeat the same thing again. 
(Some might think this was a made-up story, but it was driven into my head and 
I know it is the truth.)# You have already heard why this is our town, why we 
went to Angoon. It was a good site. I am going to tell you the story of how 
Angoon was burned. 

I was thirteen years old when they burned this town. I do not know what 
month it was when the white men moved to Killisnoo. There were many people 
at Killisnoo at that time. But I know they were packing herring at Killisnoo. 
They were fishing herring inside of Angoon. They were killing whales, too. 
Whales were plentiful. At Killisnoo, they called this man, Mr. Spuhn; he was 
operating it. 

So that whale came up there and they shot it. The whale gun exploded. One 
man was hit in the head. That was my mother’s brother. He was a doctor. 
Then they stopped whaling when that gun killed him. We Tlingit lived in 
that way. If there was an accident, they stopped all work for two days, one 
day, until after the burial [cremation]. Then they resumed everything they had 
been doing. That is the way the people have lived from time immemorial. 


43 Clauses given by only one interpreter and which may therefore represent his comments rather than a 
translation are in parentheses. 


170 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (Bull. 172 


That is what they did. They stopped it, the boat and the gun that killed him, 
until they [should?] bury him, and then they [would?] start again. 

So then Mr. Spuhn wrote a letter about the people, and wrote to have the 
Coast Guard come here to punish the people. That is the way in which he sent 
his message. That is why the Coast Guard came from Sitka. At that time we 
did not understand the white people as we do now. We did not have the knowl- 
edge. When they (the revenue cutter) came, they started shooting at the town. 
(The shots were fired right among the people. Even now, when they were fixing 
the road, they found some shells in the ground, the ones they shot.) [The in- 
formant evidently refers to the finding of a shell a few years ago.] 

At that time, the people were living on the other side [on Kootznahoo Inlet]. 
They were putting up herring. When the boat came to that side, they [the Coast 
Guard] smashed up all the Indian canoes—broke them up. No more [totally 
destroyed]. And then they started the burning. No more. When the Coast 
Guard came back they set the town afire. They were anchored right outside the 
village. No more. My mother said to me, “Do you understand what is 
happening’? And I said, ‘Yes, I understand.”’ 

Six children—no more [totally destroyed]. They were suffocated by the smoke, 
the ones that stayed in the village. The smoke killed them. All the food was de- 
stroyed: blankets, clothing, many houses—no more. Nothing was saved. Count- 
less things in the houses were all burned up. 

I did not see why this happened, what it was that made them treat us like that. 
(I did not hear the reason for this trouble.) We were defenseless, but they came to 
punish us for nothing. They took everything out of the houses aboard the Coast 
Guard boat. They said it was punishment. See how great our trouble was. I 
am going to be silent for a while. 

[Here the speaker paused for a few moments, overcome with emotion.] 

Now hear what I am telling. 

When the fall was coming, when the winter was beginning, the people of Angoon 
nearly starved to death, all of them. How much we suffered! You who are listen- 
ing to me are listening to the voice of one who is talking about himself [his own 
experiences]. 

I am going to add something of my own—a moral. If a man did that, if a Tlingit 
did that to someone, what would you say, Government? If someone did this to 
you? This is what I ask you: what are you going to say if someone did this to you? 

That is all. That is the end of the story of how trouble came to us and we never 
received help [compensation] from the Government. That is the end. 

[After consultation with his Tlingit listeners and with us, the informant added 
the following:] 

You have been listening to my words. You are white people and we are Tlingit. 
You have taken a black cloth and covered our eyes with it, hiding [?] ourland. The 
Tlingit did not tell you [give you permission] to take all of Alaska. You bought it 
from the Russians, but not all of it, only the places that the Russians owned. That 
was what you bought. Ever since I was small, this is what I heard. 

This is our land. They always tell us, [for] any land we claim, anything we 
take from it—we have to pay you taxes. Even if we kill a deer, it is not good 
for us. The bears are killing all the deer; the wolves are killing them off; the 
coyotes are killing them off.44 See how everything is being killed. You white 
people, see how much you have destroyed! 

The things in the water, you have destroyed. Even last year, they are killing 
by burning things. They are burning the herring [for fertilizer]. How is it? 


44 This is obscure but may mean that the game laws protect the predators. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY ii 


Many wrong things are confronting us. It is against the law [of nature] because 
the herring are food for the fish. And things that live back in the woods, deer, 
the things we eat, you take it away from us. There is nothing that we can 
do now. 

But just the same, whenever there is going to be war, you take our children by 
the hand without a word. You take them for death. I do not know why. 
You take the children, all those boys, to fight for you, for your country. We 
cannot say anything. There is nothing we can say, 

When you are going to make laws, you never consult us Tlingit. You never 
tell us there is going to be alaw made. You make it in secret, and then just tell 
us that the law is made (and force it upon us). See how you are treating us, 
you white men. 

We, who are old people, always feel very sad. Myself, I’m not strong enough 
to kill anything [go hunting] any more. I’m all through. I am speaking for the 
last time. This is the end of my speech, of my words, 


One interpreter at Angoon complained that the speaker skipped 
back and forth in telling the story, making it hard to translate. He 
had particular difficulty in tracing the movements of the boats in 
the destruction of Angoon, and in this respect had the same trouble 
as Bancroft in following the action. He also thinks that the version 
is not quite accurate. The late A. K., he said, could really tell the 
story. The following version is based on remarks made by this 
interpreter, both following his translation of the recording and on 


another occasion. 
VERSION 3 


The whites sent word to the marine base at Sitka. The Pinta * bombarded 
the village of Angoon because the natives in Favorite Bay had tied up the whaling 
boat and were holding the crew for ransom to pay for the support of the family of 
the slainman. A. K., now dead, was a small boy then, and used to tell the story. 
[1949.] 

The Indians had wanted compensation for the killing and had held two white 
men as hostages—not as ‘‘deer’’—but as prisoners of war until payment for the 
death of the medicine man was made. Mr. Spuhn sent a letter to Sitka—Sitka 
was the oldest post office in Alaska, and Killisnoo was the second oldest—that the 
Indians were uprising. When the Pinta came they demanded indemnity, and 
fired the town without asking to hear what was the trouble. They should have 
had a conference with the Indians first. 

The hostages, he thinks, were held up in Favorite Bay, in the cove above 
Garnes Point, where there used to be an old tribal house. It was where Joseph 
Lee (now dead) later had a cabin and boathouse, and he thinks the house belonged 
to the Kagwantan. 

The men whaling at Killisnoo were Germans. (Mr. Spuhn certainly was.) 

The Indians are mistaken in the way they are trying to sue the Government 
for compensation for the destruction of Angoon. You can’t just ask for money; 
you must have a case. He feels that their case should be based on the shock 
which warped the minds of the people, so that the seed of the parents who had 
suffered became defective, and the children are the victims of this. On the other 
hand, the wealth that they lost would not now be considered much. A listener 


45 While there was a revenue steamer of this name in Alaskan waters at a later date, she was not in any 
way involved in the destruction of Angoon in 1882. 


172 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


to the conversation protested that the people did lose tribal treasures which they 
valued very highly. [1950.] 

Another informant said that the sailors took thousands of dollars worth of 
Hudson Bay blankets and furs from the houses before they burned Angoon. His 
oldest brother was one of the seven (?) children who died in the smoke. He also 
feels that the Government ought to pay damages to Angoon. 


HISTORIC SKETCHES OF ANGOON 


No history of Angoon would be complete without mention of the 
impression made by Angoon and Killisnoo upon various white visitors. 
It is obviously not the purpose of this monograph to present a dis- 
cussion of the acculturation of the Angoon people, but the glimpses 
we receive of them through the writings of explorers and others help 
us to understand the actual development of their history. 


ANGOON IN 1794 


We are unfortunately unable to identify the settlement visited by 
Vancouver’s Lieutenant Whidbey in the summer of 1794, for parts 
of the description would fit Thayer Creek north of Angoon, other 
parts Angoon itself, and still others no locality in the vicinity. Yet 
the account obviously refers to a settlement somewhere between 
Point Parker and Killisnoo Island; and Angoon, despite difficulties, 
seems to be the most likely place intended (Vancouver, 1801, vol. 5, 
pp. 439-446). 


A league to the S. E. of point Parker,‘ in one of these bays is an opening 
about the eighth part of a mile wide, where many of the natives in their canoes 
were assembled. [In order to reload the guns with fresh powder, Lieutenant 
Whidbey ordered them discharged.] ‘This soon after produced a discharge of 
nearly an equal number from the Indians on shore; but as the boats approached 
the opening, the canoes were all hastily paddled off by the natives and soon 
disappeared. 

In the entrance five fathoms water was found, and after advancing 
about half a mile it proved to be only a shallow rocky place, having a small part 
of its southern side an island at high water. On each side of the entrance some 
new habitations were constructing, and for the first time during our intercourse 
with the North West American Indians, in the vicinity of these habitations were 
found some square patches of ground in a state of cultivation, producing a plant 
that appeared to be a species of tobacco; and which, we understood, is by no 
means uncommon amongst the inhabitants of Queen Charlotte’s islands, who 
cultivate much of this plant. On the return of the boats the Indians again made 
their appearance in a large body, headed by a chief who manifested a friendly 
disposition, by frequently taking up and laying down his musket, and making 
signs that those in the boats should do the same. On this being complied with, 
he sent a young man dressed in a scarlet coat and blue trowsers to invite our 
party on shore. 


Lieutenant Whidbey declined the invitation, but indicated that 
he wanted some fish. About 500 Indians, men, women and children, 


46 Thayer Creek is 3 miles southeast of Point Parker, but is not ina bay, although a small island lies south 
of it. , 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 173 


came out in canoes to trade, but as soon as Whidbey pointed out to 
the chief the inconvenience of such a crowd, the chief made a short 
speech which induced them all to return to shore, and he himself 
“sent out an abundant supply of fish to the boats, for which kindness 
a handsome reward was sent back, and Mr. Whidbey pursued his 
researches.” 

About 10 miles from Point Parker, the party passed and named 
Point Samuel (Killisnoo Island) and entered Hood Bay. While 
having a meal on the “fourth point of this bay,” the party were visited 
by 14 small canoes from the same tribe, who had come to offer sea- 
otter skins in trade, “of which they had great abundance, and many 
were thrown into the boats, for which they thankfully received any 
trifling article of wearing apparel in return.’”’ Their canoes were in 
general like those of Nootka, “although they were better contrived, 
far more serviceable, and infinitely neater than any of that sort which 
we had seen on this coast.’’ [Does this reflect the Haida canoe- 
building tradition of the ’Anxakhitan?] “They conducted them- 
selves with the greatest good humour, and the strictest honesty; and 
seemed to be infinitely more inclined to dispose of their sea otter 
skins than of their fish.” From them Whidbey learned that the 
opposite shore of Chatham Strait 
was composed of several islands which they had recently passed through, and 
had traded with vessels in some port on the exterior coast, from whence they 
produced most of the European commodities they had about them, consisting 
chiefly of wearing apparel; of which, coats and cloth trousers seemed by them to 
be preferred to every other article, excepting arms and ammunition: copper and 
iron being reduced to a very inferior value. 

Whidbey’s party then passed two small bays (Chaik and White- 
water Bays) and camped in a small cove in latitude 57°13’ (just 
north of the cliff with pictographs, between Whitewater Bay and 
Wilson Cove). ‘Soon after dark they were visited by some Indians, 
who, on being given to understand that their company was not 
desired, quietly departed.”’ On their return north, the party ‘‘passed 
close by the village of the friendly Indians, but not one of them was 
seen, and it is most probable that the badness of the weather had 
confined them to their habitations.” 


ANGOON IN 1875 


James G. Swan, who had gone to Alaska on the Wolcott, in the 
summer of 1875, to get curios for exhibit at the Centenial Exposi- 
tion, wrote in his report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs about 
his visit to Angoon in the latter part of June: 

The following morning we reached Kootznoo point and village, on the northeast 


side of Chatham Strait, east from Lindenburg Harbor. We found the village 
regularly laid out in streets, lanes, and alleys. The houses were surrounded with 


174 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


garden patches planted in rows, well heaped up to admit of drainage. Each 
garden was fenced in, and each had narrow strips of bark stretched across from 
fence to fence over each bed to keep off the crows, which are exceedingly numerous 
and great pests. These wary birds, however, are always on the alert for a trap 
or a snare, and the strips of bark make them think the fowler has spread his net 
for them, and they keep away. This delusion is kept up by the Indians, who hang 
up the carcasses of several dead crows in each garden patch, tying their legs to 
the bark lines as if they had been caught in that position. It is a simple and very 
effectual contrivance. The Indians raise most excellent potatoes at this place. 

Although most of the tribe were absent on a hunt, there were quite a number 
present, who beset me with entreaties for a missionary and a teacher, and I 
promised them, as I had done the others, that I would present their case to the 
Indian Bureau. 

I procured several articles of these Indians, most of them of ancient date. 
{[Swan, in Morris, 1879, p. 147.] 


ANGOON IN 1879 


John Muir, the naturalist, while traveling with the Reverend Hall 
Young, visited “‘the first of the Hootsenoo villages on Admiralty 
Island’’—either at Whitewater or, more probably, at Chaik Bay— 
where the party was entertained. They refused some of the native 
food offered, but did eat raw turnips and potatoes. The latter, 
“the size of walnuts, boiled and peeled and added to a potfull of 
salmon, made a savory stew that all seemed to relish.”’ This village 
was 10 miles from Killisnoo, from which the chief had removed his 
people because of quarrels. The next day they arrived at the “upper 
village’ (Killisnoo or Angoon, probably the latter), where the natives 
were on ‘‘a howling drunk.’”’ The houses were in a row, ‘‘the largest 
house, just opposite the landing, was about forty feet square, built of 
immense planks, each hewn from a whole log, and, as usual, the only 
opening was a mere hole about two and a half feet in diameter, closed 
by a massive hinged plug like the breech of a cannon” (Muir, 1915, 
pp. 130, 132). 

KILLISNOO IN 1890 


Killisnoo, on the little island of Kenasnow, just off the Admiralty shore, is 
the site of a large factory for the manufacture of herring oil and fish guano.‘” 
Killisnoo was first established as a whaling station, but after difficulties with the 
natives the catch was changed to herrings, which are much more easily secured 
and managed. During the winter season schools of herrings fill Chatham straits 
for miles, and a steam tender tows scows to and from the seining grounds, even 
bringing the fish from Peril straits and Sitka sound. 1,000 tons of guano and 
over 150,000 gallons of oil are produced each year. During the past season a 
bark was loaded at Killisnoo with a cargo of guano for Liverpool, being the first 


47 Guano, ‘‘a fish fertilizer, which is shipped chiefly to the Sandwich Islands’? (Hawaii) from Killisnoo 
(Porter, 1893, p. 226). It will be remembered that the trading station of the Northwest Trading Company 
was established here in 1878, that the manufacture of fish oil and fertilizer was begun in an experimental 
way the next year, and whaling was started in 1880 (ibid., p. 238). These statements do not quite cor- 
respond with the passage being quoted. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 175 


ship to clear from southeastern Alaska for a foreign port loaded entirely with 
Alaskan products. The Killisnoo factory and settlement constitute the model 
industrial establishment on the coast. It is well built and tidily kept, the cottages 
and log cabins of the employees standing on the cleared level of the beach, and a 
Greek chapel and a government school house on the high terrace above them. 
Almost the whole island has been cleared of trees and many garden patches are 
cultivated. Some 45 of the Hutznahu tribe are employed in the factory, and the 
old chief Saginaw Jake [Chief of Steel House], as native policeman, maintains 
order among these people and in the villages tributary to this trading post and 
settlement. [Porter, 1893, p. 51.] 

The Alaska Oil and Guano Company acquired the property in 
January 1887, and that season achieved the maximum production of 
380,000 gallons of herring oil. The business of salting herring was 
begun in 1888, with 100 barrels put up; by 1890 the demand exceeded 
the pack of 500 barrels and it was planned to increase the output of 
this product. In 1891 the company had 3 steam tugs, 5 scows, and 
2 fishing gangs of 12 men each. There were 35 white men employed 
at the factory, and about 28 natives hired as fishermen at $1.50 a day 
or as laborers at $1.00 a day. There were also two Chinese cooks. 
‘A considerable number of natives supply the company with over 
1,000 cords of spruce and hemlock for fuel” at $2.50 and $2.25 a cord 
(ibid., pp. 238 f.). 

A large part of the whole Hoochinoo tribe is at various times employed by the 
oil company during the season, which begins about July 15 and ends about Jan- 
uary 1, and during that time the native population at Killisnoo is about 100. 
The larger part of the income of the Hoochinoos is derived from the company, 
and their primitive food supply of fish, game, and berries is largely supplemented 
by foodstuffs purchased at the company’s store. Nearly every family of Hoo- 
chinoos is provided with a garden, potatoes and turnips being the principal 
crops. A large number of deerskins are sold to the company. ([Ibid., p. 239.] 

In addition to the English bark Martha Fisher, chartered in 1891 
for taking guano to Liverpool, Killisnoo was regularly visited by the 
steamers of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, carrying mail, 
passengers, and freight between San Francisco, Portland, Puget Sound 
ports and such Alaskan towns as Juneau, Douglas, Sitka, and Kil- 
lisnoo. While there was monthly service during the winter, this 
was increased to provide weekly trips during the excursion season 
between May and September, “to accommodate the tourists, who 
armed with Kodak and notebook, annually invade the wilds of 
Alaska in ever increasing numbers” (Porter, 1893, p. 241; cf. also 
pp. 259, 239). 

“The public school building at Killisnoo was built by the govern- 
ment in 1888.’”’ In 1890 it ‘‘reported 1 female teacher and 35 pupils, 
15 boys and 20 girls, with an average daily attendance of 15 for the 
180 days of the school year. A very small school connected with the 
Russian church at this place furnished no report.” ‘The maximum 


176 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


attendance (35) during the census year seems very small considering 
the large native population in the vicinity” (ibid., pp. 189, 239). 

“The Russian chapel at Killisnoo [built in 1889], situated up on a 
bluff behind the settlement, is a neat little ediface kept in good repair, 
but the place has been supplied with a priest only intermittently.” 
‘Although there is no resident priest, an extraordinary propaganda 
has been maintained, and a large proportion of the Hoochinoo tribe 
are nominally converts to that faith” (ibid., pp. 181, 239). 

Census data for 1890 give a total population for the “Hutznahu 
tribe”? as 420 (235 males, 185 females). The population of Angoon 
(“Hoochinoo”’) was 381 (200 males, 181 females), with 22 houses 
sheltering 113 families. At Killisnoo lived 79 persons: 31 male and 
13 female whites, 2 male Mongoloids, and 18 male and 15 female 
Indians. Here there were 18 houses and 29 families, but since the 
population was mixed these latter figures tell us nothing about the 
patterns of aboriginal residence. No mention is made of other native 
settlements or villages in the area (ibid., pp. 3, 158, 163). 


ANGOON HOUSES 


From the native point of view the history of Angoon can be con- 
sidered to some extent as consisting of the histories of the lineages 
or houses that make up its sibs. For this reason, we include infor- 
mation about Angoon houses, although it is far from complete. 

In 1881-82, according to Krause, there were 12 lineage houses at 
Angoon, 6 belonging to the Raven Decitan sib, and 3 each to 
the Wuckitan and Daq!’awedi sibs of the Eagle-Wolf moiety. At 
that time the ’Anxakhitan and Teq*edi were living at Whitewater 
Bay according to this report (Krause, 1885, pp. 118 ff.) 

An unpublished manuscript of the late George T. Emmons reports 
94 native dwellings at Angoon in 1890, and lists the following named 
lineage houses. The numbers in parenthesis refer to the locations of 
the modern houses of the same names on the map of Angoon (fig. 17). 


Raven moiety: 
Decitan: 
Cold Spring House (7) 
Flicker House (?) 
House Standing Sidewise (9) 
Raven House (10) 
Steel House (8) 
End of Village House (16 ?), or Pit Cache House (17 ?) 
’ Anxakhitan: 
House in Middle of the Town (6) 
Dog Salmon House (?) 


48 Flicker House was not mentioned by any other source. Swanton, 1908, pp. 400, 401, lists houses of that 
name at Tongas and Kuiu, but both belonging to the Eagle-Wolf moiety. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY av! 


Eagle-Wolf motety: 

Teq”edi: 

Bear House (5), with a totem pole beside it, surmounted by a bear 
(pl. 2, b). 

Bear House (?) 

Daq!’awedi: 
Killer Whale House (4), with painted front (pl. 2, b) 
Killer Whale House (3), with painted front 
Killer Whale House (2) 

Wuckitan: 
Fort House (12). 


On the basis of information gathered at Sitka and Wrangell in 1904, 
Swanton lists 7 houses at Angoon (Swanton, 1908, pp. 399, 403). 
The list is evidently not complete. It is given below, and again the 
numbers in parenthesis refer to locations on the accompanying sketch 
map (fig. 17). 


Raven moiety: 
Dé’ citan, people of the end-of-road house 
Yét hit, Raven house (10) 
Dé’cu hit, house at end of road (11) 
Gin hit, spring house (7) 

Togyé’di, outlet people, so called because they lived at the outlet of a 
lake—part of above. [No house is given. Conceivably reference is made 
to the Basket Bay branch of the Decitan.] 

Anq!a’kitan or Q!a’kitain, people of the house in the middle of the valley 
{sic. Our informants specified the middle of the village, ’an]. 

Anq!a’ k hit, house in the middle of the valley (6) 
Eagle-Wolf motety: 
Wuckitaé’n, people with houses on top of one another 
Ni hit, fort house (12) 
Daqulawe’ di 
Kit hit, killer-whale house (2,3, or 4) 
Te’qoed?, people of Teq° 
Xuts! hit, grizzly-bear house (5) 


Andrew Davis, a native resident of Angoon, compiled a list of 
lineage houses in 1928, together with the names of their chiefs and 
the principal crests associated with them. Later, when some of the 
house heads had died, he penciled in the names of their successors or 
of the persons occupying the houses. This list which he kindly let 
us copy is given below. Again, numbers in parenthesis refer to loca- 
tions on the sketch map (fig. 17). 

Day-she-tarn, main symbol Raven: 
Goon-hit, clear spring water house, a hat used to indicate symbol shelter of 
a tree; Little Jack. (7) 
Shteen-hit, named for a slave, Shteen; Charlie Andanott. (8) 
Took-ka-hit, (?); John Paul. (9) 
Yeatle-hit, Raven house; George Johnson. (10) 
Ahn-chuka-hit, near the end of the village house; Jimmie Paul. (11) 
Yeatke-socky-hit, Raven-bones house; Pete Johnson. (13) 


178 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


Khook-hit, Khook means a big hole dug in the ground formerly used for 
storing food to keep from freezing; James Hilton. (17, location uncertain) 

Day-shu-hit, the end of a street house; Charlie John. (16). [Note that the 
present names of houses 11 and 16 have become transposed] 

Kar-kowk-hit, named for a curved rock at Basket Bay. Kar-kowk means 
a curve, like an arc; symbol, beaver; Basket Bay Chief. (17) 

Ahn-kharky-tarn, Dog Salmon: 

Yen-khoon-hit, yen-khoon means old logs or stumps lying in creeks, con- 

sequently interpreted as a dwelling place of the salmon; Moses Jamestown. 


(1) 
Ahn-khark-hit, the village central house; John Hunter and William George. 


(6) 
Woosh-kee-tarn, the Eagle clan. This clan at different times used the symbol of 

a mud shark, and a cane of some bird called in Tlingit, cheet [Murrelet]: 

Noowa-hit, fort house, John Fred. (12) 
Tuck-la-way-tee, the Killer Whale or Thrasher clan: 
Keet-hit, ‘‘Thrasher’”’ [Killer Whale] house; Jimmy George. (2) 
Keet-hit; John Nelson. (3) 
Keet-hit; Archie Bell. (4) 
Tay-quay-tee, the Bear clan: 
Khootz-hit, bear house; Tom G. Brown. (5) 
Sha-nak-hit, Sha means mountain; bears live on the mountains so the house is 
called mountain house; Albert Kukash and George Klushkan. (15) 

Dr. Viola Garfield gathered information about the houses and the sib 
affiliations of the Angoon population during her visit in 1945. She 
has very generously let me use unpublished material from her note- 
books. In 1949 and 1950 we obtained lists of houses, and also census 
data, including some short genealogies. In all, we have obtained 
references to some 22 houses at Angoon, although not all of these are 
still occupied or even still standing. The following summary will 
draw upon all sources of available information. 


ANCIENT HOUSES 


When the Ganaxadi left Angoon, the Decitan acquired the rights 
to their house sites and house names, and in this way obtained 
yet hit, “Raven House,’ then, as now, the most important in the 
village. We do not know where it was located. The Ganaxadi at that 
time also had a fortified house on the point south of the school (22), 
called Ganaxcanuwu, “Fort of the Women of Ganax.” There is now 
no house of that name, and apparently has been none for some time. 
The Ganaxadi were living at the extreme southern end of the town, 
in an area which includes the present school grounds. Near here, we 
were told, were formerly visible the foundations of two very old 
houses. One near the school yard (21), was dug down, that is, 
the center was excavated, and the floor was covered with sand. 
It carried the symbolic representation (carved house posts?, painted 
facade or interior screen?) of a hawk, kidjik. It was named ’as 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 179 


to Keotznahoo 
tore 
Greek KOOTZNAHOO 
Orthodox 
Church 


>~. Saivetion 
\ Ariny Hall 


S 
oN 


oO 


Anchor for 
Angoon 


PEE 
CHATHAM MAP OF ANGOON 
SR Ane Th 


74 ;. 
eA Numbers indicate 
lineage houses 


Figure 17.—Sketch map of Angoon. Key to Lineage Houses in Angoon: 
1, Log Jam House, ’Anyakhitan. 2, Killer Whale Tooth House, Daq}’awedi. 
3, Killer Whale House, Daqlawedi. 4, Killer Whale House, Daq}!’awedi. 
5, Bear House, Teq”edi. 6, Middle of the Village House, ’Anxakhitan. 
7, Clear Spring House, Decitan. 8, Steel House, Decitan. 9, Packed Solid 
House, Decitan. 10, Raven House, Decitan. 11, Trail End House, Decitan. 
12, Fort House, Wuckitan. 138, Raven Bones House, Decitan. 14, Bear 
Den House, lost by Teq*edi to Wuckitan. 15, Valley House, Teq"edi. 
16, Village End House, Decitan. 17, Pit Cache House, lost by Decitan, 
location uncertain. 18, House on Top of the Fort, originally Wuckitan. 
19, Basket House, Basket Bay branch of Decitan. 20, Site of Edge-Around 
House, ’Anxakhitan. 21, Site of Young Tree House (Ganaxadi ?). 22, Site 
of Fort of Women of Ganagx. 


180 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (Bull. 172 


yatxi hit, “Young Tree House,’’ literally, ‘““Spruce-children House.” 
Our informant, a middle-aged ’Anxakhitan woman, claimed that 
the house belonged to her sib, but it may have belonged to or been 
derived from the Ganaxadi, since Swanton lists a kidji’k hit as 
belonging to the Tongas division of that sib.” 

The second old house, wanda hit, was at the site of the ’Anxakhitan 
house (1), and seems to have belonged to that sib (see below). 


DECITAN HOUSES 


“Raven House,” yet hit, was said by all our informants to have 
been the first house built at Angoon. We did not learn where the 
original location was supposed to have been. It may have been 
somewhere on land now leveled for the school grounds. The present 
Raven House (10) is on the Chatham Strait side of Angoon, near 
the center of the village, and like all the other buildings is of ordinary 
frame construction (pl. 1). Formerly it was decorated by two big 
carved wooden ravens, one on each side of the door, their beaks 
extending out over the boardwalk. No sign of these now remains. 
They may have been taken down because the house served as a 
place of worship for the Presbyterians before the present church 
was built, or they may have been removed in 1929, along with the 
totemic insignia on other houses, when the town was modernized 
for a meeting of the Grand Camp of the Alaska Native Brotherhood, 
since this organization is opposed to the old ways. 

The traditional name or title of the head of Raven House is Yel 
nawu, “Dead Raven.’ The earliest known chief was already an 
old man in 1890 (?) when he painted the two killer whales that 
formerly adorned Killer Whale House (4) (pl. 2, 0; fig. 18, 6). The 
next (?) chief, called Léxanagut as a boy, was the father of Archie 
Bell, the chief of Killer Whale House (4) who was responsible for 
the obliteration of these paintings. This Yel nawu was the chief 
speaker for the Ravens at a ‘‘Peace Dance,” held in 1914 or 1915 at 
Killer Whale House, to reconcile the Decitan and Daq}awedi after 
a Decitan man named L’axkekY had been accidentally killed by his 
Daql’awedison. This Yet nawu was also one of the prominent chiefs 
in 1917 when the Angoon town council was established. One of the 
town meetings was held in Raven House in 1918. 

After this man died, the chieftainship went to his maternal nephew, 
George Johnson, also called Qacaxaw (possibly q‘acaxawu, ‘‘someone’s 
head hair’). The latter died about 1928, and his widow married his 
younger brother, Samuel Johnson, the present chief. In between 
the two Johnson brothers, the head of the house was George Gamble 


49 Swanton, 1908, p. 400. At Yakutat, however, kidjfik is translated as ‘‘golden eagle,’’ and the crest and 
house name belong to the Teqvedi in the Eagle-Wolf moiety. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 181 


(born! 1897), called Sik‘gt, whose relationship to the Johnsons we do 
not know, although his mother was a very high-ranking Raven 
woman. His father was a Wuckitan from Juneau. It is hard to 
understand why George Gamble, who could only have been a 
“nephew”’ to his predecessor, should have succeeded rather than the 
younger brother, unless the latter, who is the Presbyterian minister, 
was absent from Angoon at the time in connection with his calling. 
In any case, Samuel G. Johnson (born 1889), called LAxanagut, suc- 
ceeded to the chieftainship between 1945 and 1947. He renovated 
the house in 1947-48, for which he gave an impressive potlatch, the 
last one reported in Angoon (at the time of our visit in 1950). 

The father of the two Johnson brothers was Qatcgahet, the Teq*edi 
chief of Bear House (5). Their mother belonged to a lineage that 
originally claimed rights at Chaik Bay, rather than at Angoon. Thus 
we can see a shift in the paternal affiliations of the Raven House 
chiefs from the Daq}’awedi to the Teq”edi. 

Raven House is now unoccupied, although sib heirlooms are still 
stored in it. 

“Raven Bones House,’ yet Saqi hit (13), is described by Garfield as 
a branch of Raven House. The first chief reported to us was Pete 
Johnson, Anxisi. He was succeeded by his younger brother, Billy 
Johnson, or KékAc, and finally by a still younger brother, Jimmy 
Johnson, the present chief. The latter (born 1879), is called ’AK*t‘a, 
“At the Bottom of a Little Lake,” and T‘!’ Len, “Big Dog Salmon.”’ 
He married first a Wuckitan woman, then the Kagwantan widow of 
his brother Pete, and finally the Kagwantan widow of his brother 
Billy. Jimmy Johnson’s most honorable name is Datx-qa-sadu-’axtc, 
“Something Valuable about which we Talk’ (to give a free transla- 
tion). He and his wife occupy the house, while his youngest brother, 
Billy Jones, a noted orator, lives next door. Both of these men, who 
are older than the chief of Raven House, assist him at potlatches 
with speeches and lead in the singing. The father of these men was 
a chief of the Daq?awedi Killer Whale House (4?), and they lived 
during their boyhood at Chaik Bay. 

The third Decitan house is ctin hit. The word, ctin, is sometimes 
translated as “hard stone,’’ but seems to be simply the English word 
“steel”? mispronounced in the usual Tlingit fashion which confuses N 
and L. Weshall therefore call it ‘Steel House’’ (8), as our most critical 
informants and Emmons have done. According to Garfield, the 
original founder of the house was a man “‘who was proud and wealthy 
and wished people to regard him as hard as a rock”’ (Garfield, 1947, 
p. 439). The story which we heard, however, was that the builder 
had a slave named Ctin, “Steel,’”’ who was killed at the potlatch 
celebrating the completion of the house. The house was named after 


182 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


him, in accordance with his last wish. Whether or not this story is 
correct, it is the one generally current at Angoon. 

The chief of the house is traditionally named Kitcnatx (kite ‘‘wings,”’ 
nat ‘treasure’, x ‘‘on’’). This refers to a potlatch at which a large 
wooden image of a raven was set up on the beach, with Chilkat 
blankets hung over the outstretched wings. As many slaves were 
killed on the ‘‘Anchor for Angoon,” the boulder near the house, as 
there were blankets. When the tide came up, the raven figure and 
the blankets all floated out to sea. It was Qasayen, sister of the orig- 
inal (?) Kitcnatx, who married a Haida, and was the ancestress of the 
’ Anxakhitan sib. 

The earliest Kitcnalx of whom we heard was the man known as 
“Killisnoo Jake,’’ who was mentioned in connection with the destruc- 
tion of the Kake villages in 1869. He promised Captain Beardslee 
in 1880 not to renew the feud with the Wrangell people, and was 
among the chiefs who conferred with Commander Merriman after the 
destruction of Angoon in 1882. This man appears, among other 
notables, in a photograph taken in 1890 in front of the Greek Orthodox 
Church at Killisnoo. He was the marshal at that time. A later 
chief of Steel House was Charley Andanott, Andénat or Qux"atéa. 
He became one of the “city fathers’ in 1917 when the town council 
was formed, and was still chief in 1928. The present chief is George 
Davis (born 1899), his maternal nephew. The latter’s wife, who died 
recently, was the Wuckitan daughter of Jimmy Johnson, chief of 
Raven Bones House (13). Unfortunately we do not know to what 
lineage or sib Davis’ father belonged, but I suspect it was Wuck- 
itan. In any case, he is felt to belong to the old high-class lines, and 
he is well versed in both Decitan and Wuckitan traditions. He and 
his children occupy the house; one daughter is attending college. 

“Clear Spring House,” gun hit (7), was, according to Garfield, built 
by the younger brother of the founder of ‘‘Steel House’’ to offset the 
latter’s boasting (Garfield, 1947, p. 439). We were told that Steel 
House became too crowded, so that another house was built, perhaps 
a euphemistic reference to friction within the lineage. The present 
modern house is said to be on the original site. Whereas all the other 
old-style houses were filled with smoke from the central fire, this one 
was clear. Therefore it was called “gun,’’ meaning a calm, clear 
spring or pool of water. The lineage has a crest hat symbolizing the 
shelter of a tree, ’asy1 (?), “place beneath the spruce.’”’ The chief in 
1928 was Little Jack, called Wulcuq’. It is now occupied by his 
Teq”edi son, Johnny Jack, and the latter’s Decitan wife and children. 
It is supposed to belong to these children; the original lineage has be- 
come extinct. The building was formerly larger, but was remodeled 
for Little Jack by his children. Garfield has identified the painted 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 183 


partition with two beavers as originally belonging to this house. 
(Swanton, 1908, fig. 106; Garfield, 1947, p. 439.) 

The house called tuqk”a hit or tuq*a hit, translated by Garfield’s 
informants as ‘Front, or High House,” and by ours as “‘Packed Solid 
(like a box) House’ (9), has been empty for years and is now almost 
inruins. For this reason perhaps, we were not able to learn anything 
definite about the meaning of the name. Emmons translates it as 
“House Standing Sidewise.’”’ Formerly people moved into it from 
both Steel House and Clear Spring House. The traditional title of 
the chief is Kanatq’”, from which the name Kanalku Bay seems to 
be derived. The native name means ‘‘Water Coming Up,” and refers 
to the potlatch given by the chief of Steel House in which the rising 
tide washed away the raven figure and the blankets. Emmons has 
published a photograph, probably taken in the 1890’s, of ‘Joe Kennel- 
Ku, chief of the Da-she-ton family of the Hootz-ah-tar tribe,’’ dressed 
in a shirt woven like a Chilkat blanket with a beaver design in front. 
(Emmons, 1908 a, p. 68). In 1928 the chief of the house was John 
Paul, Qtaten, “Big Man.’’ He was married to a Kagwantan woman, 
the sister of Anaxuts. The latter is a famous Sitka Kagwantan name 
and we have already met a chief ““Annahoots” acting as a policeman 
at Sitka while Captain Beardslee was there. The previous (?) chief 
of tuqk’a hit was the father of Robert Willard, the present head of 
the Wuckitan Fort House (12). Now, the only surviving member of 
the lineage is a woman who lives in Sitka. 

What is now called decu hit, ‘Trail End House” (11), should, 
according to one of our informants be called ’antcuk‘a hit, ‘Village 
End House’”’ (cf. 16), but the names of the houses have become trans- 
posed. The present Trail End House is at the western or Chatham 
Strait end of the path across the isthmus, next to Raven House. 
It was across this path that the beaver ran who led the Decitan to 
Angoon, and the name of the house refers to the beaver’s trail. The 
present building was erected in 1912 by ‘“‘Sitkoh Bay Chief.”’ In 
1928, the head of the house was Jimmy Paul, Qat’awu; the present 
chief is his brother, Jim Paul, Santux (bern 1892). Both Pauls 
were nephews of “‘Sitkoh Bay Chief.”’ In 1948 Jim Paul had the 
foundations of the house lifted, to pay for which he gave a potlatch, 
and in 1950 he was contemplating further renovations (repairing the 
windows, and painting), in which the Wuckitan would be asked to 
help. 

The other decu hit or ’antcuk‘a hit, “Village End House” (16) was 
at the east or Kootznahoo Inlet end of the same path across the 


® Boas, 1917, p. 108, gives this as ’ancuk‘Ax, “at the end of the town,”’ correcting Swanton’s tcu ‘‘end”’ 
tocu. But we also heard it as teu 


460927—60-——_13 


184 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


isthmus. The present building is fairly new, on or near the site of 
an older one, but the second story is said to be unfinished. The 
chief in 1928 was Charley John (born 1888), referred to by one of 
Garfield’s informants as ‘Chief of the Ravens.” After his death in 
1949, the house passed to his son-in-law, Jack Bell (born 1914). The 
latter is the Decitan son of Billy Bell, who was apparently a former 
chief of the Daql’awedi Killer Whale Tooth House (2). It is quite 
possible that according to native reckoning the relationship between 
Charley John and Jack Bell was closer than that of father- and son- 
in-law. In any case, the latter (?) sold the house to Paul James, an 
’Anxakhitan man, and consequently, since the house is no longer 
Decitan, it is felt to have lost its name. It may be because of this 
that both house names (decu hit, from which the whole sib is called, 
and ’antcuka hit) became attached to Jim Paul’s house (11). 

Another house, known only from Emmon’s list of 1890 and Andrew 
Davis’ list of 1928 is ktiq™ hit, ‘Pit Cache House” of the Decitan. 
The location of this house (17) is not known, but it seems to have 
been either near Village End House (16) according to Davis, or 
according to Emmons was the same as the latter. In 1928 it was 
occupied by James Hilton, who was unfortunately overlooked in 
our genealogies. After him, the occupants were Pete Hobson or 
Hotson, Tstn-ic, a Daqi’awedi man, and Augustus Hart, both of 
whom are now dead. All we know of the last is that he belonged 
to the Eagle-Wolf moiety. The wives of both Hobson and Hart 
were ’Anxakhitan women. Mrs. Hart, who died in 1949, was the 
daughter of a Teq*edi father, and her husband may, therefore, 
have belonged to the same sib. It seems clear that even if James 
Hilton were Decitan, the later occupants or owners of the house 
were not, and this being the case, we suspect that the house itself, 
which had been alienated from the Decitan, was not mentioned 
by our informants because it was no longer lineage property. 

The last Decitan house belongs to the Basket Bay division of 
that sib. The original building was undoubtedly in Basket Bay. 
It was called qgak*‘ hit, “Basket (or Arch) House’ (19). The chief 
in 1918 and in 1928 had the three names: Qaqatdeni, Tséytic, and 
Gitwén. The name Tséyic is said to be the Tlingit rendering of 
James. The last name, Gitwén, is one later held by Peter J. Johnson, 
the deceased son of Bessie, a Basket Bay woman, and Robert Johnson, 
a Daq!awedi man. The house was, however, inherited by the 
nephew of “Basket Bay Chief,’’ Andrew Dick, Qak*etcn, and later 
by the latter’s brother, Peter Dick (born 1886). The earlier location 
of the house in Angoon is said to have been on the path across the 
isthmus, between Raven Bones House (13) and Village End House 
(or Trail End House) (16). This building had a painted front. The 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 185 


site is now occupied by a private dwelling. The present Basket 
House (19) is farther south, on the Kootznahoo Inlet side of town, 
and is distinguished by a round windowpane in the door. 


? 
7ANXAKHITAN HOUSES 


“Middle of the Village House,’ ’anxak hit, the house from which 
the sib derives its name, is sometimes referred to as t‘i!’ hit, ‘Dog 
Salmon House,” and we were told that the latter was really the 
older name. Emmons listed the two, however, as distinct houses. 
When the descendants of the sister of the chief of the Decitan Steel 
House returned from Kasaan, that chief, their uncle, gave them 
permission to build a house beside his own in the middle of the village, 
hence the name of their house. The first Middle of the Village 
House is said to have been at Whitewater Bay, and was decorated by 
a painting of a black-and-red dog salmon. The present house at 
Angoon (6) is separated from Steel House by the Decitan Clear 
Spring House. The traditional title of the house chief is Q‘adjaq*tc, 
“Man-Killer.” A man of this name was marshal at Killisnoo in 
1890, along with ‘‘Killisnoo Jake”’ of Steel House, and was responsible 
for erecting the present Middle of the Village House at Angoon. He 
was succeeded by William George, Tak‘s, who had the house re- 
modeled in 1917. In 1928 the intended heir was George’s son-in-law, 
John Hunter, Cayxak‘, but the latter died (before his father-in-law?), 
and we know of no chief after William George. The house has been 
empty for a long time. 

The second ’Anxakhitan house is yanxun hit (1), which was also 
originally at Whitewater Bay. The name means “‘Log Jam House,” 
implying a number of hemlock (yEn) stumps, rotting (xtn) in the 
river, under which the salmon hide. The traditional title of the chief 
is Daqatckik. The last chief of this name was Moses Jamestown, 
Te’iga-ic, who died in 1950. His English name is derived from that 
of the U. S. 8. Jamestown, which took him from Whitewater Bay 
when he was an unwanted orphan to the Presbyterian Mission school 
(Sheldon Jackson School) in Sitka in 1879. He made a will leaving 
the house to the Daq}!’awedi grandchildren of his deceased wife, 
men who are not directly related to him at all. It has been said 
that George Hobson of Sitka, the ’Anxakhrtan son of Pete Hobson 
(see Pit Cache House, 17), is the rightful heir under the old sib in- 
heritance rules. If Moses Jamestown’s will be held valid, the house 
will cease to be lineage property. 

The building is said to have been erected on the site of an earlier, 
old-style house called wanda hit, ‘‘Hdge-Around?” or ‘“Around-the- 
Edge House’? (20). Swanton lists a house of this name belonging to 
the Tongas Teq”edi, and translates wa’nda as “an ornamental cloak 


186 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


worn at dances ... trimmed with eagle skins along the sides,” 
(Swanton, 1908, p. 400) that is, around the edge. The Angoon 
house, however, was said to have been ’Anxakhitan, like that later 
erected at the site, and the name for its chief was also Daqatckik, 
Moses Jamestown’s title. All this, in fact, suggests that there was 
really only one “house,” or house site, with two names. The chief 
of the earlier house owned a big painted canoe, which he had bought 
for two slaves. The same informant who told us about the earlier 
house also said that Moses Jamestown’s grandfather owned a big 
painted canoe called kit yak*’, ‘Killer Whale Canoe.” These two men 
may have been the same person. The ’Anxakhitan are often said 
to have had superior war canoes because of their Haida connections. 
However, the name of the canoe would indicate that the owner was a 
Daq?’awedi man, perhaps Moses Jamestown’s mother’s father. 


WUCKITAN HOUSES 


The Wuckitan now have only one house at Angoon. This is nu 
hit, ‘Fort House’’ (12), said to be the third building of that name on the 
same site. The first of these, at least, was surrounded by a palisade. 
The posts of the second (?) house could still be seen in the garden until 
recently. This house had belonged to John Shuwika (Cuwika). 
His daughter, born in 1890, remembers that the house had two benches 
around the walls, each 5 feet high, with boxlike sleeping rooms above 
them. A later chief, who died about 1928, was John Fred, known as 
Qui’aha. He was “nephew” to the Davis brothers, the oldest of 
whom had the same name. The youngest, John Davis, who died 
about 1946, was married to a daughter of his ‘‘uncle,” John Cuwika. 
The affiliations of this lineage were with the ’Anxakhitan, that is, 
the men married women of that sib. After John Fred, the headship 
of Fort House passed to Charley Frank, a son-in-law of Qut’aha 
Davis. The previous chiefs had belonged to the Angoon branch of 
the Wuckitan, but Charley Frank was a member of the Freshwater 
Bay division. Charley Frank and his son-in-law, Robert Willard, 
built the present house, which the latter inherited upon the death of 
his father-in-law and renovated in connection with an important 
potlatch. This type of inheritance is described by Mrs. Willard as a 
‘new-style arrangement.” (Ideally, under the old rules of preferen- 
tial marriage, the maternal nephew and son-in-law would be one and 
the same person. The shift from actual nephew to actual son-in- 
law, provided that the latter was of the right sib to inherit, seems to 
have been caused by two factors: extinction of many family lines, and 
missionary teachings against marriage with first-cousins.) Robert 
Willard (born 1887) is the son of a Decitan father, and is married 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 187 


to a Decitan woman. He was known as Detki when a boy, later as 
Cawut’an, and his “big name” is Kitcxayu’. 

There was also a nu hit at Sitka, with which the Angoon Wuckitan 
were closely affiliated. This was the house that was destroyed by 
the Kagwantan when John Cuwika was a little boy, and he was the 
only member of the group to escape. Later the house was rebuilt, 
and his son-in-law, John Davis, apparently obtained title to it. The 
latter told his ’Anxakhrtan son that he could have the house if he 
married a Wuckitan woman, that is, he could hold it in trust for his 
Wockitan children. This would have resulted in inheritance by a 
paternal grandson, but since the son did not marry, this arrangement 
was not carried out. 

There was also a former Wuckitan house, nicak‘a hit, translated 
as “High Class People’s House,” but more properly perhaps as 
“House on Top of the Fort’ (18), formerly owned by Charley Davis. 
It was sold out of the family, and although bought again by Charley 
Walters, brother of Charley Davis, it is no longer considered a sib 
house. A song belonging to the lineage of this house referred to the 
gonaqadet, or wealth-bringing water monster. Garfield mentions a 
house of the same name, nticak‘a hit, ‘“‘Fort-on-Top House,” or 
witicak‘a hit, ‘“Over-all House,” at Grouse Fort, the village on Icy 
Strait from which both the Wuckitan and Kagwantan are derived 
(Garfield, 1947, p. 450.) 


TEQYEDI HOUSES 


The Teq”edi formerly owned xuts kudi hit, “Bear Den House’’ (14), 
but this was recently lost to the Wuckitan, although neither Garfield 
nor ourselves learned the circumstances (ibid., p. 447). The present 
owner is Jimmy Brown, Yanastat, “Bouncing” (like a bird taking 
off from the water). He is not at present in Angoon. Evidently 
the house had ceased to be lineage property in 1928, for no mention 
of it was made on Andrew Davis’ list. 

The most important Teq”edi house is xuts hit, ‘“Bear House’’ (5). 
There was formerly a house of the same name in Whitewater Bay. 
In 1896, the Angoon house is said to have had four great house posts, 
carved to represent the sib hero, Kats, his Bear wife, and his little dog. 
Our informant, who remembers this house from her childhood, said 
that it was the only one at the time that had carved house posts, and 
that she was afraid to look at them. Emmons, who visited Angoon in 
1890, does not mention the interior posts but rather a totem pole 
beside the house which was surmounted by the figure of a bear. 
This pole was evidently between Bear House and Killer Whale House 
(4), as shown in an undated photograph in the State Indian Museum 
at Sacramento (pl. 2, 6). Both houses in this picture are the ones 


188 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


still standing. The pole evidently has a conventionalized bear on 
the bottom, a second bearlike figure holding a dog by its tail, and a 
human face (Kats ?)between the ears of the second bear. Above are 
four bear prints carved in the smooth surface of the pole, and on top 
is a very realistic carving in the round of a bear, seated on the pole 
and looking down. 

The chief of this house in 1917 was Shorty Johnson, Qatcgahét, 
father of George and Samuel Johnson, chiefs of Raven House. In 
1928, the chief was Tom G. Brown. The latter was apparently the 
last official chief. His brother, Peter Tom, was supposed to inherit 
the house, but it is actually the nephew, Eddy (or Andy) Jack, who 
has been living in it since 1950 when he returned to Angoon from 
Tenakee. Frank Jack, his younger brother, was also mentioned to us 
as a possible head, as was Johnny Jack, another brother. The latter 
might perhaps have a special claim since he is son-in-law to Peter Tom. 
However, he has a private house of his own. In any case, all of the 
brothers are rather young (not over 35?), and it is possible that 
none of them would care to undertake the responsibility and expense 
of the potlatch necessary to validate the chieftainship. The Jack 
brothers are sons of Little Jack, former chief of Clear Spring House 
of the Decitan (7). 

The other Teq*edi house is canax hit, “House Between the Moun- 
tains,” or ‘Valley House” (15), referring to the favorite location for 
bears’ dens. The present building was erected about 40 years ago. 
George Johnson, former chief of Raven House, was the “builder,” 
and was awarded $100 and a Chilkat blanket at the house-building 
potlatch. In 1914-15 the house was rebuilt, for which an impressive 
potlatch was given by the chief, Albert Kukash, whose native names 
were Kukec, Qdcan, and Kitnaq. He was the “brother” (or cousin?) 
of Shorty Johnson, chief of Bear House. Albert Kukash was 
assisted at the potlatch by his “nephew,” George Klushkan, Luckan. 
The latter was son-in-law to Yanatcux or Qadjriqeq, a noted Teq*edi 
chief of the 1880’s, whose carved marble tombstone, representing a 
bear, stands near the house. I think this man was actually chief of 
Valley House in 1882. He had a summer camp on Channel Point, 
which was spared at the time Angoon and the surrounding camps were 
burned. This was because the chief’s friend, a halfbreed interpreter 
on one of the Government boats, testified that he had been away fish- 
ing when the white hostages were seized and was in no sense responsi- 
ble for this incident. Another daughter of this same chief was the 
wife of Shorty Johnson of Bear House. George Klushkan would pre- 
sumably have inherited Valley House from his ‘‘uncle,’”’ but he seems 
to have died before the latter. Albert Kukash, who lived until 1940, 
built a private house in 1927-28, so that his family would have their 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 189 


own house after his death. When he died, there was actually no one 
living in Valley House. James Jackson (born 1882), whose potlatch 
title is Qagéc, and whose name is also Tiuckan, is a “nephew” to 
Albert Kukash, and perhaps should be the heir now. Actually, 
Frank Jack, one of the sons of Little Jack, and brother to the present 
occupant of Bear House, seems to be caring for or even living in Valley 
House. For a time it was occupied by Mrs. William George, the 
Teq*edi widow of the former chief of Middle of the Village House. 
She was the maternal grandmother of the Jack brothers, and the 
mother of Willis George (born 1902). The latter, known as Daquct‘s 
or Taquste, also has the potlatch name or title of Qatcgahét, and may 
outrank all the Teq*edi, although he lives in his own private house. 


DAQL’AWEDI HOUSES 


This sib has three houses at Angoon. Two are known as kit hit, 
“Killer Whale House,’ but one of these (4), now owned by Peter 
Kanash, is more correctly called wutc-daka-din kit hit (“Killer 
Whales Touching Each Other on the Back’’??) because it formerly had 
a painting on the facade of two killer whales facing away from each 
other. A house of this name with a similar painting is mentioned by 
Emmons, presumably dating from 1890. This is evidently the same 
house that is iUlustrated in the undated photograph in the State Indian 
Museum at Sacramento (pl. 2, 6). The picture shows the present 
building as it was before two shed annexes were built on the south side 
and a front door with glass panes was added. The photograph of the 
painting on the house front is practically identical with the sketch 
made in 1950 by Edward Malin (fig. 18, 6). This building is said to 
have been erected by the mother’s mother’s brother of the present 
chief. The traditional chief’s title is Guctahin, referring to the water 
rushing past the fin of the killer whale. The painting on the house 
was made by a former chief of Raven House, when the latter was 
an old man, and he received $500 for his work at the subsequent 
potlatch. The next chief of Killer Whale House was Archie Bell, 
the son of this Raven House chief. Archie Bell was called Natk, 
St‘utex, and Danawu, in addition to his title. He was chief in 1928 
and was responsible for the obliteration of the killer-whale painting. 
Now, only its faint outlines can be seen under grayish-white commer- 
cial paint. Peter Kanash (born 1885), Archie Bell’s half-brother by 
the same mother, is the present chief. He put in partitions to make 
several rooms of what had formerly been a single big room, reshingled 
the roof, and strengthened the foundations. It cost $2,300 for the 
repairs and $7,000 for the house-building (house-repairing) potlatch. 
Billy Jones, half-brother of the chief of Raven Bones House and 
son of a former Guctahin (probably the Killer Whale House chief 


190 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


FicurE 18 


(For legend, see opposite page.) 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 191 


of the 1890’s), acted as master of ceremonies for the Decitan at this 
potlatch, and announced Peter Kanash’s new title as lineage chief. 

The second ‘Filler Whale House’”’ (3) is also known as tsa-siI-naq‘ 
kit hit, “Killer Whale Chasing Seal House,’’ because it has such a 
scene represented on a carved and painted panel (fig. 18, a). This 
was formerly a painting on the front of the house, but the boards 
were moved inside about 1928 in modernizing the village for the 
Alaska Native Brotherhood convention. A former chief of the house 
was John Nelson (born 1872). His lineage is extinct, and the house 
now belongs to Robert Jamestown (born 1906), a Daq?awedi man 
who married the step-daughter of John Nelson. (She was the daugh- 
ter of John Nelson’s brother, and was adopted when John married 
his brother’s widow). ‘This woman was ’Anxakhitan. According to 
Garfield’s information, John Nelson claimed Hood Bay. He died 
some time after 1945. 

The third house of the sib is kit uxu hit, ‘Killer Whale Tooth House’’ 
(2). It has been held, at least since 1928, by Jimmy George (born 
1889). He is the son of a Decitan man, Albert (full name unknown), 
and the present Mrs. Mary Bell. It was on the occasion of this 
Decitan’s man’s death that the last Peace Dance was held in 
Angoon about 1914 or 1915. Jimmy George’s first name was Gusk‘a- 
tsex (“‘to kick on the clouds” ?), but he inherited the name or title 
of Wutexkaduha, the famous Hood Bay shaman. ‘This house is not 
as old as the first Killer Whale House (4). It was once larger than 
it is now, and had a marble killer whale in front. In 1950, two tomb- 
stones were displayed in front of the house. One of these was for 
Billy Bell, a Daq?awedi man known as Qatuctin and Wutcxkaduha, 
who died long ago. He was the father of Mrs. Mary Bell’s second 
husband, Frank Bell, and of Jack Bell, the last chief of the Decitan 
Village End House (16). It is probably from Billy Bell that 
Jimmy George inherited his name and Killer Whale Tooth House.” 

51 The original painted facade is illustrated in Emmons, 1930, p. 291. 
82 The relationship between these two men is probably fairly close, since both of Mary Bell’s husbands, 


the fathers of Jimmy George and Frank Bell, were Decitan and may well have been brothers or cousins. 
In any case, Billy Bell would have been “‘uncle’”’ to Jimmy George. 


FiagurE 18.—Paintings on Killer Whale Houses, Angoon. Sketched by Edward 
Malin. a, Painting inside Killer Whale House No. 3. (The figures are cut 
from separate boards, about one-half inch thick. Whale: 24 inches long. 
Black, with white patch on which is black fin with yellow stripe. Circles on 
side and design on tail are yellow. Eye is dark green, teeth yellow. Seal: 
8 inches long. Gray with black spots; tail, mouth, and eyes are brown. Faces: 
4 inches square. Green or yellow with black features.) 6, Painting outside 
Killer Whale House No. 4. (Whales originally painted in bands of black, here 
outlined.) 


192 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


The second tombstone in front of the house was that of Peter James, 
a Daq}’awedi man who died in 1950. He was the maternal grand- 
father of Jimmy George’s second wife, the Decitan daughter of 
Archie Bell, former chief of Killer Whale House (4). Evidently 
Jimmy George was planning a funeral potlatch in honor of these two 
distinguished relatives some time during the winter of 1950-51. 
Jimmy George’s third wife is the Decitan daughter of Peter James 
by the latter’s second wife. 


SUMMARY 


These genealogies and records of succession, short and incomplete 
as they are, show how the leading families in two sibs of opposite 
moieties tend to intermarry, so that sometimes the chiefs of their 
respective houses are actually father and son, or at least paternal uncle 
and nephew, an equivalent relationship in Tlingit thought. We also 
see the inheritance of titles, houses, and widows by younger brothers, 
with the house and title passing eventually to the maternal nephew 
(in the old days the widow would also have been so inherited, and 
she would also have been a paternal aunt). The more modern scheme 
is to substitute a son-in-law of the correct sib when no direct heir in 
the maternal line is available, or to attempt to pass the house to a 
paternal grandson in the sib. Lastly, we have examples of houses 
passing completely from the lineage and sib by transfer in settlement 
of a dispute, or by sale, and the attempt to do so through a modern 
legal will. There seems to be no doubt that with the abandonment 
of potlatching, a custom that appears to most of the younger genera- 
tion as a waste of time and money, condemned by the Alaska Native 
Brotherhood as a sign of cultural backwardness, and discouraged by 
the church as smacking of the heathen past, we may expect in the 
future that few houses will be inherited as lineage property and that 
few titles will be validated by potlatching. 


ANGOON TODAY 


We may finally close this historical account with a sketch of the 
most recent developments at Angoon that make the town what it is 
today. This section is based on information obtained from a number 
of informants, but in most cases we have been unable to check it 
against historical records. 

The town of Angoon was organized in May 1917 under the Terri- 
torial laws of 1915. All the chiefs had to agree. They were afraid, 
said our informant, that if they did not establish a government ac- 
cording to the white man’s law the United States Government might 
again burn the town. The chiefs specifically mentioned as taking 
part in this meeting were: Yet nawu of Raven House, Charley 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 193 


Andanott of Clear Spring House, and Basket Bay Chief, all Decitan; 
William George of Middle of the Village House, the chief of Log Jam 
House, both ’Anxakhitan; Shorty Johnson of Valley House and his 
nephew, George Klushkan, both Teq”edi. 

At times old intersib rivalries and intrasib jealousies impeded the 
smooth running of the new organization. Although meetings of vari- 
ous native groups are now conducted according to Robert’s Rules of 
Order, the parliamentary procedure which the town council tried to 
follow in the early days was undoubtedly unfamiliar to the leaders. 
Friction sometimes arose on matters of protocol and procedure between 
the older men who were both chiefs and city fathers and the younger 
school graduates who were not only essential as clerks and secretaries, 
but who were active propagandists for the new ways. There must 
have been disagreements, too, over matters of policy, especially since 
the younger men in many cases were not only intolerant of the old 
customs but even ignorant of the principles on which they were based. 
That the organization survived and was able to bring real improve- 
ments to the town is evidence of the earnest endeavors and common 
sense of its members. 

There had been a Greek Orthodox Church at Killisnoo since 1889, 
and also a Salvation Army Hall there, before either was built at 
Angoon. The first church at Angoon was the Presbyterian Church, 
built in 1918-19. Previously the Presbyterian congregation had met 
for services at Raven House, but the present chief of the house and 
Presbyterian minister raised funds to build the church. The whole 
community worked on it. Since the minister and his family now 
live at the Manse, the old Raven House is unoccupied. The present 
chief of Trail End House is one of the elders of the church. A nephew 
of a previous chief of Raven House is the Presbyterian minister at 
Kake. During the summer of 1950, Cyrus Peck, a Kagwantan who 
is married to the Decitan step-daughter of the chief of Killer Whale 
House (4) was visiting minister. 

The Salvation Army Hall at Angoon was built also by the whole 
community, but we do not know the date. The chief of Fort House 
is a captain and the leader of this congregation. The chief of Log 
Jam House who died in 1950 and a number of other ’Anxakhrtan 
men are active members of the Salvation Army. The Greek Orthodox 
Church at Angoon was built in 1928-29, also through community 
effort, aided by friends from Sitka and Hoonah. There has never 
been a regular priest assigned to either Killisnoo or Angoon, but 
visiting priests have come from both Sitka and Hoonah, and a num- 
ber of the Angoon people have toured with the Greek Orthodox choir, 
organized by Father Sorgon of Sitka. 


194 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


Estimates of these three congregations in recent years have been: 
Greek Orthodox, 100 members; Salvation Army, 80; and Presbyte- 
rian, 70. While there is some suggestion that church membership 
may reflect lineage affiliations, there is considerable cooperation be- 
tween the congregations. Choirs from the churches tour the town 
at Christmas time, when all who are able hold open house for them, 
and on such occasions as the visit of the Presbyterian Theological 
Seminary Choir most of the residents attend the special hymn singing. 
All are fond of music. 

A public school was built at Killisnoo in 1880, but, as we have 
seen, never attracted a large attendance. This building was destroyed 
by fire in 1894. A number of middle-aged or elderly residents of 
Angoon have attended the Sheldon Jackson Presbyterian Mission 
School at Sitka, and some the Greek Orthodox mission school there. 
The first school classes at Angoon had to be held in any large house 
that happened to be available, and we were told that each year the 
people had to wait to see which house could be used. The people 
petitioned the Governor for a school, our informant said, and now 
they have one. It is, however, an Alaska Native Service school, 
not a Territorial public school. It was apparently first opened in 
1920 at the present site, on land which had previously been used for 
gardens. In 1929 a new school and ‘‘teacherage”’ was built, with 
three large and one small classrooms, superintendent’s office, clinic, 
storerooms, etc., as well as quarters for two married couples and a 
visiting Public Health Nurse. The latter, however, divides her time 
between Angoon and Kake. In 1938 the land behind the school was 
ditched and fitted as a basketball field. About 100 children attend 
school, some of the graduates going to the Mt. Edgecumbe High 
School, and in 1950 two young people, a boy and a girl, were attending 
a university. 

Among the most important organizations at Angoon is the local 
camp of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and the affiliated Sisterhood. 
(The following account should be checked against Drucker’s, 1958.) 
The ANB was originally founded at Sitka in 1912, by Tlingit from 
various parts of Alaska, including Eli Katinuk and William Hobson 
of Angoon, James Johnson of Klawak, Ralph Young of Hoonah, and a 
Tsimshian from New Metlakatla. The organization grew out of a 
group that had banded together to protest the refusal of restaurants 
and a moving picture theater in Sitka to admit Indians. Such dis- 
crimination is now prohibited by Territorial law. The boycotts 
were so successful that the group stuck together and founded the 
ANB. It now has camps in practically every native community in 
southeastern Alaska, and is conceived as a body which will eventually 
embrace all the natives of the Territory. The Pribilof Islanders 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 195 


(Aleut) who were evacuated to southeastern Alaska have joined. In 
1949 about 5,000? members were claimed. In addition to the local 
camps, there is a Grand Camp, a central organization consisting of 
the Grand Officers of the ANB and ANS, the chairmen and two addi- 
tional delegates from each subordinate ANB and ANS camp, and all 
former Grand Presidents. Conventions are held every November 
at some town in southeastern Alaska, the local camp acting as host 
to the meeting which lasts about a week. Camp No. 7 was organized 
at Angoon in 1921-22 (?), after about 2 years’ deliberation, following 
visits to Sitka of younger and older people to watch the work of the 
original local camp. At that time about half the people in town 
joined. The offices of President and Vice President are elective, as 
are the corresponding offices in the Alaska Native Sisterhood, and most 
of the prominent men and women of Angoon have held them. A 
convention of the Grand Camp was held at Angoon in 1929 and it was 
for this occasion that the paintings of the two Killer Whale Houses 
were obliterated or moved. 

Article I, Purpose, of the Constitution of the Alaska Native Brother- 
hood (dated 1948) states: 


The purpose of this organization shall be to assist and encourage the Native in 

his advancement from his Native state to his place among the civilized races of 
the world, to oppose, to discourage, and to overcome the narrow injustice of 
race prejudice, to commemorate the fine qualities of the Native races of North 
America, to preserve their history, lore, art and virtues, to cultivate the morality, 
education, commerce and civil government of Alaska, to improve individual and 
municipal health and laboring conditions, and to create a true respect in Natives 
and in other persons with whom they deal for the letter and spirit of the Declaration 
of Independence and the Constitution and laws of the United States. 
All descendants of the aboriginal races of North America are eligible 
to full membership; their spouses may become full members, except 
that they may not hold any of the Grand Offices; and other persons 
may become associate or honorary members by unanimous vote of 
the local camp or Grand Camp. 

To carry out the purposes of the organization, provision is made for 
the payment of benefits for sickness or injury, and for contributions 
to the funeral expenses of members. Local camps have a Citizenship 
Committee ‘who shall endeavor to get as many members to exercise 
their privilege of voting as possible,” a School Committee (ANS) to 
cooperate with the government teacher in insuring attendance of 
the children at school, an Improved Home Life Committee (ANS) to 
report on health and cleanliness of each home, and make recommenda- 
tions for improvement that must be carried out by the members 
criticized. The oath of membership involves support of the Consti- 


83 Though provided for by the constitution, I do not know how active these committees are. However, 
the various types of benefits provided for above are commonly paid, the local ANS often holding social 
events to raise money for the needy. 


196 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


tution of the United States, as well as an appeal to the Heavenly Father 
for wisdom and strength. Of recent years, the Alaska Native Brother- 
hood and the American Federation of Labor have cooperated in 
matters affecting the pay of fishermen and cannery workers, etc. The 
Grand Camp has a Fisheries Committee. The organization has, I 
believe, played a part in the election of native members to the Terri- 
torial Legislature, and in 1950 were supporting the movement for 
Alaska Statehood, although the individual members seemed to be 
divided on this issue in the same proportion as the white citizens 
of Alaska. 

The large building, standing on piling above the beach at the 
Chatham Strait end of the original beaver trail (pl. 1), was built in 
1917 as a community hall, the year the town council was organized. 
The whole community cooperated in its erection. The timber was 
cut in Gut Bay and taken to Warm Springs Bay, Baranof Island, 
where there was a sawmill. The people apparently made some ar- 
rangement whereby they had to pay only for the shingles. The kitch- 
en, where food for social gatherings was prepared, was originally 
upstairs, but it was too hard for the old people to go up and down, 
so a ground-floor addition with a new kitchen was built in 1929, the 
year of the ANB convention at Angoon and the same year that the 
new schoolhouse was also built. At that time, practically everyone 
in town joined the ANB and ANS, and the town hall now functions 
as, and is called the ANB Hall. Public notices are posted on the door; 
it seems to serve for meetings of all kinds, inciuding parties and dances, 
and various local basketball clubs play in it. The hall is said to be 
too short for such games, so there is talk of extending the building 
out farther over the beach. A number of men use the shelter below 
it for working on their skiffs. 

There are several electric light plants in Angoon: that supplying 
the community line, those for the school and for each of the two stores, 
and the last for the post office and weather station. The community 
first acquired the public plant in 1924-25. The present diesel motor 
supplies current for the lights along the main boardwalks, and light 
and power for the houses. Many of the families have electric washing 
machines, and also gasoline machines to use in summer when the 
town current is usually shut off. The people also have a number of 
radios. Each household is taxed about $10 a year for current. 

In June 1928 the native settlement at Killisnoo was destroyed 
by fire. This is reported by some to have started in a house with a 
dirty or defective stove pipe. According to others, the fire was due 
to sabotage. They say there had been a strange Japanese living 
in that house for about 2 weeks, taking photographs of everything. 
He waited until the north wind was blowing, so the people didn’t 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 197 


have a chance, then threw gasoline on his stove and went off in his 
boat with all his things. The people were so upset that they did not 
try to catch him. This is the third case reported to us in which arson 
has been suspected, the other two being attributed to personal malice. 
While it is commonly recognized that carelessness alone may lead to 
serious conflagrations, since the wooden buildings are highly inflam- 
mable and there is no adequate means of fighting fires, it is interesting 
that arson should have been suggested in so many cases. A number 
of families that had been living at Killisnoo had begun to drift back 
to Angoon in 1915 when the herring plant, then operated by the Alaska 
Fish Salting and By-Products Company, was temporarily closed 
down. This last disaster forced the abandonment of the place, and 
resulted in the growth of Angoon. The herring plant seems to have 
operated spasmodically in the 1920’s under the National Fish and 
Salting Company and later the Killisnoo Packing Company, but oper- 
ations were finally suspended in 1931, we were told. The summer 
cabins of the native workers were occupied during World War II by 
35 Aleuts evacuated from Atka. Now a number of these shacks have 
been moved to Angoon to relieve the housing shortage, acute here 
as in so many Alaskan towns. It is felt that housing conditions are 
aggravated by the small size of the town site, the boundaries of 
which are so drawn that even the Kootznahoo Store and the Trail 
Store lie outside the town limits. But this does not explain why 
only a very few natives have sought to acquire home sites outside 
the town proper. 

The most important recent event affecting Angoon came in 1936 
when an amendment to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 ex- 
tended the benefits of this legislation to Alaska. Under the provisions 
of this law, the Angoon Community Association was incorporated, 
and adopted a constitution and bylaws, which were duly ratified 
by a vote of 72 for and 3 against on November 15, 1939. The charter 
authorizes the Community Association to purchase, own, and manage 
community property, to make contracts, and to borrow money 
from the Federal Government for community business purposes or 
to lend to individual members. Income from community investments, 
above that needed to pay interest or to refund debts, can be used 
for social, educational, or relief purposes. These powers, according 
to the constitution, are vested in 7 elected members. The charter 
prohibits the sale or mortgage of lands, fishing or mineral rights, 
in areas which might be set aside for a reservation. ‘The constitu- 
tion provides that the choice of legal counsel and the fees to be paid 
him must be approved by the Secretary of the Interior. 

In January 1948 a law and order code, adapted from those in 


% According to recent Federal legislation, the creation of such a reservation is now impossible. 


198 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY {Bull. 172 


effect on reservations in the States, was adopted by the new Com- 
munity Association. This established an Angoon Native Village 
Court, consisting of a chief judge and three assistants, appointed 
and paid by the Village Council, and having jurisdiction over mem- 
bers of the Community Association. A Village Police Force of four 
men is also authorized. The court is empowered to try civil cases 
involving claims up to $200, and to impose sentences for offenses up 
to $60 (for carrying concealed weapons). Assault, theft, fraud, dis- 
orderly conduct, liquor violations, adultery, etc., receive lighter 
penalties. These fines and court costs may be worked off at the rate 
of $5 a day, or served out at the equivalent of $2 for each day in jail. 
Interestingly enough we heard nothing about any civil or criminal 
cases at Angoon, and I doubt if the community has a jail. 

There was some opposition to the adoption of the community 
charter. This had come, we were told by one man, from persons like 
himself, who believed that the people could not possibly pay back the 
Government money they might borrow, and that they would fall so 
deeply in debt that the Government would ‘‘put them on a reserva- 
tion.”” (A common attitude toward reservations, we found, involved 
the belief that they were places where natives would be to some extent 
confined, or would in some fashion lose their personal freedom. It 
is also suspected that the creation of a reservation, although guar- 
anteeing certain territorial rights, would in exchange force the surrender 
of others outside the reservation to which the people feel equally 
entitled.) Our informant was, however, unable to sway public 
opinion at Angoon, because one of the men who spoke in favor of the 
charter was a chief who had been trained by his father and uncles as 
an orator. Our informant told us that when he saw the benefits from 
the IRA, he admitted that he had been wrong. 

These benefits have been twofold. First, the purse-seiners and 
smaller trollers, essential for commercial fishing, were originally 
financed by mortgages held by private firms, mostly canneries. These 
boats cost from $15,000 to $22,000, and in bad fishing years it has 
not only been impossible to meet the mortgage payments, but opera- 
ting costs may even increase the owner’s indebtedness. Now the 
community has been able to take over the mortgages, thereby pre- 
ventingforec losures in some cases; and, further, the more liberal 
terms of the Federal loan to the community have made payments 
easier. 

More important, however, has been the purchase by the community 
of the salmon cannery at Hood Bay in November 1947. It was 
operated in 1948 by the Whiz Fish Products Company under lease, 
but in 1949 the community itself initiated operation. The council 
hired the manager, a white man with many years’ experience in the 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 199 


field, and he in turn selected the rest of the crew. These consist 
primarily of the ‘inside foreman” and his expert assistants (in charge 
of the complex canning machinery), the “‘outside foreman” (in charge 
of docks, fish traps, etc.), the storekeeper, and the bookkeeper; these 
were all white men. This was because these positions require special 
skills, which the natives have not yet learned. The very responsible 
positions, however, of commanding the cannery tender and barge 
would both have been filled by natives, but only one competent man 
was available because the rest preferred the excitement of fishing. 
Most of the Angoon men fish for the cannery, and most of their wives 
work on the cannery line. However, in order to fill some of the heavier 
and more dangerous inside jobs for which men are needed, it was 
necessary to employ a small crew of Filipinos. All workers received 
union wages, and the fish are bought at standard prices. 

It has been of the greatest social consequence to the community 
that its members have been thus united in a common enterprise. The 
people are not only conscious of the economic benefits, but also take 
a real pride in their business. It removes them from a position of 
indebtedness to a packing company and of social inferiority to its 
white owners and managers, a position which in some cases can 
amount to virtual peonage. For these reasons, the cannery repre- 
sents the realization of ambition; it is a source of hope, of inspiration 
for the young people. Before, as one informant expressed it, even 
though the men had sailed on these waters and knew them thoroughly, 
no white man would give them the responsibility of piloting a big 
barge or cannery tender. Now they can have such jobs, and their 
sons can look forward to having them, too. 

We were told that the loan from the Government to buy the cannery 
amounted to $258,000, with 20 years allowed in which to liquidate it, 
although payments had to begin in 5 years’ time. The season of 1949 
was so successful that $130,000 was paid back to the Government, 
and in addition there were funds available for the purchase of needed 
equipment. (We were unable to check this information.) There 
were also plans to use the anticipated profits for establishing new 
enterprises that could afford year-round sources of income: a sawmill 
or a cold storage plant (for halibut, cod, red snappers, and king 
salmon). ‘The fishing season of 1950 was, however, very poor. 

The community is at present debating a proposal to move from An- 
goon to Hood Bay. Those in favor of such a move cite the nearness 
to the cannery, the present crowded condition of Angoon, and the abun- 
dant supply of good water and the safe harbor at Hood Bay, features 
lacking at Angoon. Their opponents point to the rugged terrain near 
the cannery which leaves insufficient room, they claim, for a village; 
the cost of building new houses; and the alleged freezing over of the 

460927—60-——14 


200 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


head of the bay in winter. We gathered that opinion for and against 
the move was fairly evenly divided, with the younger families in gen- 
eral favoring the change, and the older members opposed. Probably 
influencing some of the latter is the fact that they own lineage houses 
at Angoon, but could not afford to have new lineage houses erected 
at another village, especially since their younger relatives would be 
unwilling or reluctant to finance the necessary house-building potlatch. 
Also, there is the natural attachment to their old home, a feeling which 
expresses itself in appreciation of the open view across Chatham 
Strait © and the aversion to being shut in at Hood Bay. Some feel 
that if a move is made, it must be by the community as a whole, 
because of legal and financial problems involved, and the necessity of 
schooling for their children. It is also felt that it will take several 
years before a decision to move or to stay can be reached. In the 
meantime, improvements or repairs to property at Angoon which 
might otherwise be undertaken are in some cases postponed. A 
number of families are instead improving their summer cabins at the 
cannery or building new houses there which could be used either as 
comfortable summer houses during the fishing season or as permanent 
dwellings. This issue is, perhaps, the one most likely to threaten the 
solidarity of the community, and it might indeed lead to the eventual 
splitting of Angoon into two villages. 


CONCLUSIONS 


To the study of the history of the northern Tlingit, especially the 
Xutsnuwedi of Angoon, we have made a beginning. This has demon- 
strated that archeological, ethnological, and historical data, if com- 
bined and analyzed together, can give a deeper insight than any one 
type of material or one methodology alone. 


55 The love of sitting motionless for hours, gazing out to sea, is one which has received comment from early 
travelers. Erman suggested a religious significance; Krause (1885, p. 165) thought it was to study 
the weather. I think it reflects simply esthetic enjoyment of the changing panorama of sea and sky, and 
curiosity about the movements of birds, animals, and passing boats. 

56 Since the above was written, an outbreak of witchcraft fears at Angoon was reported in the press for 
April 26-29, 1957. This began when a young girl of 16 claimed that her baby had been killed by witchcraft 
2 weeks before and that she herself had been bewitched by 20 persons since 1952. Another girl, 12 years old, 
joined her in holding nightly seances in which they made vague prophecies of strange occurrences and accused 
others of witchcraft. All the latter were so-called ‘‘nonbelievers.’’ A number of previously skeptical per- 
sons became “believers”? when certain individuals, who it was predicted would fall sick, were actually 
affected by a virus epidemic that struck the village. One man thought that he saw another turn into a 
bird and fly away, because the older girl had told him that something would happen that night to convince 
him. The girls also testified that they had been transformed into cats on several occasions when touched by 
a human (?) bone held by one of the witches during midnight rites in the cemetery and that they had seen a 
witch turn into a cat herself. The baby died because the witch cut off a piece of its clothing and buried 
this with dead cats under the house. 

The current manifestation follows in part the aboriginal patterns of witchcraft fears and, like the latter, 
also reflects social tensions and anxieties, although the present ones seem to be more diffuse and are not, as 
was once the tradition, centered on jealousy and trouble within the lineage or sib (de Laguna, 1952, p. 8). 
Asa matter of fact, there is little to distinguish this Angoon witchcraft episode from similar incidents which 
occur from time to time in farming communities not 75 miles from my own home in Pennsylvania. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 201 


Interpretation of history involves an understanding of the motives 
of human beings, and demands, if we are to read aright the events, 
that we should see them, as far as possible, through the eyes of the 
participants. Indian and white man can become mutually intelligible 
only through the sympathetic translations of the anthropologist, who 
usually begins his task long after the events have taken place. Too 
seldom is he aided by the insights of contemporaries like Captain 
Beardslee, who studied ‘‘the laws, customs and superstitions of the 
Indians,”’ but he must bring his own understanding of their culture 
to illumine and amplify the incomplete report of their behavior. 

The biases and prejudices of the white man’s records and of the 
native’s traditions must not only be perceived and reconciled if possi- 
ble, but the reasons for bias must be understood. There were ap- 
parently members of the Angoon group in 1882 prepared to protect 
the officials of the Northwest Trading Company against the Indians 
who demanded compensation for the death of the Decitan shaman 
and who threatened to kill the white hostages. Were these “friendly 
Indians” perhaps the Teq*edi? This is suggested by the fact that 
the property of the Teq”*edi chief (of Valley House?) was spared by 
Merriman. Did this difference in attitude toward the whites perhaps 
reflect factions within the community based on intersib or inter- 
lineage rivalries? Why have the people of Angoon apparently for- 
gotten the part played by these friendly Indians, so that according 
to the stories we heard all the people seem to have acted together, or 
been equally innocent sufferers? Is it because the natives now feel 
themselves equally threatened by encroachment, restrictive legislation 
and taxation, sources of discomfort and anxiety which revive the mem- 
ory of Angoon’s destruction and remind them of common Indian 
interests? Perhaps further probing might bring to light traditions of 
the different roles played by particular individuals in 1882, assuming 
that the ethnologist could stay long enough at Angoon to win the con- 
fidence of members of all the lineages. Again, how are we to interpret 
the striking omissions and the particular slants in the accounts by 
Morris and Merriman? Did the former actually welcome the affair 
at Angoon because it justified his dire predictions and because it could 
be used, as indeed it was, to force Congress to take Alaska seriously? 
Does Merrimam betray vindictiveness toward the Indians because 
they had not docilely accepted his views of their proper role, not 
simply in relation to the whites in general but to himself, the Naval 
officer, the ‘Senior Officer Present’’? Was he possibly led to greater 
harshness than his conscience really approved? Is that why we find 
this curious combination of avowed concern to make the natives 
“look upon the man-of-war as their best friend” with, if we are to 
trust Mrs. Willard, a readiness to annihilate the entire tribe? Does 


202 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


this last reported statement express the unconscious wish to wipe 
out the doubts of the wisdom and justice of what he had already 
done? 

Although it is interesting to speculate upon the motivations of 
individuals, as individual personalities, this is not our primary task. 
We have rather to understand these men as playing roles arising from 
and dictated by the social and cultural patterns of their own worlds. 
For the most part we shall never know much about them as individuals 
and this will be particularly true as we go farther back into the past. 
We may indeed have sufficient insight into the character of Baranof, 
but what about his adversary, Kanian, chief of the Kiksadi? And 
in any case, events were not shaped by these two men alone. Each 
acted within the framework of his culture, in conjunction with other 
members of his society. To understand what happened at Sitka, 
it is not enough to know the policies and methods of the Russian 
American Company; we need also to grasp the structure of the native 
Sitkan community, how it functioned, and what were, for example, 
the relations between the Sitkan Krksadi and the other Sitkan sibs, 
and between these and their relatives and enemies in other Tlingit 
tribes. From what we learned at Angoon this would be a fruitful 
field for research, especially interesting since the Russians themselves 
seem to have understood but imperfectly the forces at work in Tlingit 
society. There are many similar problems in the history of the 
northern Tlingit. 

It has been claimed with justice that every people live their own 
myths, that is, that their conduct in the present reflects what they 
believe their past to have been, since that past, as well as the present 
and the future, are aspects of the ‘destiny’ in which they exhibit 
themselves as they think they really are. The Tlingit themselves 
sense this and use the term “‘ha (our) cagtn”’ for the origin and destiny 
of their sib, including the totemic animal or bird encountered by their 
ancestors and the powers and prerogatives obtained from it, as well 
as their own place in the universe and the ultimate fate of their 
unborn descendants. This is something that goes beyond asking 
the historian to check the validity of native tradition, or attempting 
through native tradition to check the accuracy of historical docu- 
ments. Rather it poses for us the problem of how a people view their 
history, and in these pages we have discussed some of the methods 
by which a solution may be approached. Still further, we must 
in every case discover what is the significant social unit involved. 
It is obvious that we cannot lump all Tlingit together as one nation if 
we wish to understand their past and their present and what these 
mean to them, nor can we take one tribe as a single entity in dis- 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 203 


cussing events at Angoon or Sitka. Rather, as we have tried to show, 
we must deal with the Decitan, the Teq*edi, the Kiksadi, as the 
‘nations’ that inspired “patriotism” (to quote our informants), as 
the groups that have acted as units in terms of what they believed 
it meant to be Decitan, or Teq*edi, or Kiksadi. To what extent 
separate sib alinements may have crossed and fused is a problem 
of importance equal to that of understanding the significance of 
their separate traditions and attitudes toward themselves. 

Since we have not found archeological material that can with 
certainty be referred to a period antedating early contacts with 
Europeans, we have not been able to outline an ancient stage in 
the development of northern Tlingit culture. Obviously more arche- 
ological work is needed in the Angoon area. There are, however, 
promising sites for further exploration: Marten Fort in Hood Bay 
and some of the reported forts in Peril Strait, the village sites at 
Whitewater Bay and Sitkoh Bay, and the reported sites at Todd, 
Tenakee, and Freshwater Bay. Of particular interest would be 
Grouse Fort on Icy Strait with its midden and house pits, since 
it is from the inhabitants of this place that lineages at Hoonah, 
Sitka, and Angoon trace their descent. Cultural influences moving 
southward to Angoon may well have left their imprint here; accord- 
ing to tradition the people of Grouse Fort had connections with the 
Chilkat, the Yakutat, and the interior Athabaskans. 

It is, of course, impossible to predict what site, now known or still 
awaiting discovery, may prove crucial in revealing interconnections 
between the various tribes. Perhaps the early chapters may for- 
ever remain hidden from us. Yet ethnological evidence of regional 
diversity in Tlingit culture makes this a subject to which the arche- 
ologist should give his attention. We will not understand Angoon 
until we can clearly see it in the perspective of likeness to and differ- 
ence from other Tlingit groups, and until we can trace the shifting 
patterns of resemblances and divergences through time. 

Although traditions concerning a number of ancient settlements 
did not coincide with archeological evidence of early occupation, 
we must not think that all problems common to the archeologist 
and ethnologist simply mean verifying native stories by the spade. 
Rather, the relationship between archeology and ethnology is a 
reciprocal one, involving the interpretation of the excavator’s finds 
through knowledge of native custom and tradition and equally the 
illumination or illustration of native report through the antiquities 
unearthed. 

What do we know about the beginnings of Angoon? If archeology 
should fail us, is there any other evidence that might point to the 


204 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


origins of its inhabitants? Swanton has implied that the sib migra- 
tion stories of the Tlingit may be used as clues to their past: 

The Tlingit quite uniformly trace the origin of nearly all their clans to the 
Tsimshian coast “below Port Simpson’; that is, to the neighborhood of the 
mouth of the Skeena river. It is said by some that nearly all the present clans 
immigrated in this manner, and that most of the “old Alaskans,”’ those whom 
they found in possession, have died out. [Swanton obtained the names of some 
of these latter groups but believes that] many are very small and are more likely 
to have been subdivisions than surviving groups. The only point that may 
have significance is the fact that nearly all so enumerated were of the Raven 
clan. There are several other bits of evidence which seem to show that the 
distinction between the two phratries was of more importance historically than 
would at first appear. [It is possible, he suggests, that the distinction between 
the two moieties] could have been associated originally with a racial difference, 
and such a possibility again presents itself when we come to consider the origins 
of the separate clan divisions. [Swanton, 1908, pp. 407 f.] 

These stories deal with migrations from the north or south or 
interior into the present Tlingit territory and also with population 
movements within it. Thus, if we examine the origin stories of the 
groups now or formerly claiming rights in the Angoon area, we find 
that the Ganaxadi and Teq*edi came from the far south; the 
Decitan, Wuckitan, and Daqlawedi from the interior; and the 
’Anxakhitan are supposedly half Haida. Even the Kagwantan, who 
though fairly well represented at Angoon are still not established in 
the community, trace their descent from the north. Were there 
then no admittedly autochthonous inhabitants? We have only vague 
mention of the ‘Kelp People” at Tyce or possibly of the Tsag*edi at 
Hood Bay and Eliza Harbor to suggest that there were any people 
living in the area before these migrations. 

These stories should not be interpreted as mass migrations of whole 
sibs; as Garfield has pointed out, they refer usually to single lineages, 
the inhabitants of one house (Garfield, 1947, p. 451). They recount, 
therefore, the traditional or legendary history of certain important 
family lines, represented by a chief and his immediate relatives. 
If other groups were involved they are simply not mentioned, 
and the archeological evidence nowhere suggests large settlements 
or even very numerous ones. We cannot believe, therefore, that 
large populations accompanied the chief or were absorbed by his 
lineage or sib. If we try to interpret these stories as history, we 
can never be sure to what period or periods they refer, although, as 
suggested, the movement of the Teq*edi to the Angoon area may 
have been only in the early 19th century, and the other migrations 
are perhaps not very old either. Do these stories refer primarily 
to the spread of lineage and sib organization, of titles and crests 
carried by a handful of chiefs? Was it perhaps from the mouth of 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 205 


the Skeena River that the framework of Tlingit social organization 
was derived? 

Whatever the interpretation we may make, these stories are not 
to be dismissed as purely fanciful. Thus, Emmons in 1911 published 
a fairly detailed version of the meeting of natives from Grouse Fort 
with La Pérouse in 1786 at Lituya Bay, in which are not only recorded 
the names of certain chiefs involved but such specific incidents as 
the loss of some of La Pérouse’s boats in the tide rips, a tragedy fully 
described by La Pérouse himself (Kmmons, 1911; La Pérouse, 
1937, pp. 25-32). We heard a briefer version of the same story at 
Yakutat in 1949, and at least one of our Angoon informants was 
familiar with it, but lacked sufficient command of English to tell it. 
This is proof that in some respects Tlingit traditions may be trusted 
for a century and a half. A number of traditions referring to glacial 
movements are also in accord with geological evidence. 

Although we have no accurate census figures before 1880, by which 
time several disastrous epidemics had already swept southeastern 
Alaska, it seems to be quite evident that the northern Tlingit popu- 
lation was never very large in comparison with populations of the 
neighboring areas. Thus, Kroeber, using Mooney’s figures, esti- 
mates 2,500 for the northern Tlingit and 7,500 for the southern Tlingit. 
This amounts to a density of 10 persons per 100 square kilometers for 
the northern Tlingit and 10.10 for the southern, as compared with 
64.70 for the Aleut, 30.60 for the Kodiak Eskimo, 95.10 for the Haida, 
and 31.80 for the Tsimshian proper. If we go farther south to the 
peoples of Vancouver Island and the opposite mainland areas we again 
reach densities comparable to those of the Aleut and Kodiak.®’ Since 
Kroeber feels that the length of shoreline is a more accurate method 
of estimating territorial resources for a coastal people than is land 
area, he also computes density of population per mile of shore line, 
and arrives at rather similar conclusions. Thus, he finds 4.60 persons 
per mile of coast for the Aleut, 8.20 for the Haida, 7.00 for the Tsim- 
shian, even 20.00 for the Puget Sound Salish, but only 2.50 for the 
Tlingit (Kroeber, 1939, p. 170). No large sites have ever been 
reported from the Tlingit area, whereas large archeological sites are 
known both from British Columbia and southwestern Alaska and these 
increase in size and number as we turn west toward the Aleutians or 
approach the mouth of the Fraser River. The archeological evidence, 
incomplete as it is, supports these estimates of aboriginal population, 
and suggests that in the past the northern Tlingit were anything 
but numerous, although the area in which they lived could apparently 
have supported much greater numbers. Certainly the concentration 


3? Kroeber, 1939, p. 135. His figures for the Chugach and ‘‘Ugalakmiut”’ may be omitted because of the 
confusion between the Eskimo and the Eyak. 


206 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


in a few large villages, tribal “capitals” such as Sitka, Hoonah, Juneau, 
and Angoon, is a phenomenon of the past fifty or sixty years in most 
instances, to be explained probably by the shift from subsistence 
hunting and fishing to commercial fishing supplemented by other 
paid occupations, and the lure of the trading post. 

Such evidence as we have suggests a brief expansion of Tlingit 
population, of no very great age, an expansion due in part to immigra- 
tion from outside the Tlingit area and in part to internal growth. 
Pressure by the Haida and Tsimshian may explain the movements 
from the south; interior Athabaskans and northerners may have 
responded to the attractions of the archipelago. Is it possible that 
this population growth was due to contact with the Europeans whose 
trade made possible a richer life in Tlingit coastal areas? Kroeber 
suggests that the northern Northwest Coast culture represents a rela- 
tively recent adjustment from river or sheltered inlet to the more 
open shore, and that the cultural elaboration among the southern 
Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian, to whom the northern Tlingit owed 
so much, culminated only in the 19th century (Kroeber, 1939, 
pp. 29-31, 156). In his analysis of Eyak culture, Birket-Smith not 
only demonstrates that these people must be regarded as having pre- 
served in large part the patterns of early Northwest Coast culture 
before this culmination, but suggests that the Eyak themselves may 
once have even occupied northern Tlingit territory (Birket-Smith 
and de Laguna, 1938, pp. 530 f.). The Eyak were certainly the 
original inhabitants of the Gulf of Alaska from the Copper River 
almost to the Alsek River, and while we do not know whether they 
ever lived in southeastern Alaska, further archeological investiga- 
tions may well reveal the presence here of small settlements with a 
similar culture, more fitted to life at the mouths of rivers or along 
sheltered beaches than on the wide straits. Was it to the Haida, as 
suggested by ’Anxakhitan traditions, that the northern Tlingit owed 
the perfected canoes that enabled them to conquer the open water- 
ways and the sea? Were they just beginning to exploit fully their 
favorable maritime environment when population expansion and cul- 
tural enrichment were cut short by the collapse of the fur trade and 
the ravages of epidemics introduced by the white man? 

Lastly, it will be remembered that Lieutenant Whidbey observed 
that ‘‘on both sides of the entrance [to Kootznahoo Inlet? ] some new 
habitations were constructing.’’ Are we perhaps justified in suspect- 
ing that he was actually witnessing the founding of settlements at 
Turn Point and Angoon, or the establishment there of those immi- 
grants who were to become known later as the Decitan? Is the story 
of Angoon one that has unfolded only within the past 160 years? 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 207 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Apsortt, R. TUCKER. 
1954. American seashells. New York. 
Bancrort, Husert H. 
1886. History of Alaska. San Francisco. 
BEARDSLEE, L. A. 
1882. Reports of . . ., relative to affairs in Alaska, and the operations of the 
U. 8. S. Jamestown under his command, while in the waters of the 
Territory, 1882, forwarded by William H. Hunt, Secretary of the 
Navy. 47th Congr., lst Sess. Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 71, in vol. 4. 
BIRKET-SmITH, Kas. 
1953. The Chugach Eskimo. Nationalmuseets Skrifter, Etnografisk Raekke, 
VI. Copenhagen. 
BrrKEtT-SmiTH, Kaj, and Lacuna, FREDERICA DE. 
1938. The Eyak Indians of the Copper River Delta, Alaska. Det Kgl. 
Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. Copenhagen. 
Boas, FRANZ. 
1916. Tsimshian mythology. 31st Ann. Rep., Bur. Amer. Ethnol., pp. 29- 
1037. 
1917. Grammatical notes on the language of the Tlingit Indians. Anthrop. 
Publ., vol. 8, No. 1, Univ. Pennsylvania Mus. Philadelphia. 
BorvEN, CuHar.ss E, 
1950. Preliminary report on archaeological investigations in the Fraser Delta 
region. Anthrop. in British Columbia, No. 1, pp. 13-27. 
1951. Facts and problems of Northwest Coast prehistory. Anthrop. in 
British Columbia, No. 2, pp. 35-52. 
1954. Some aspects of prehistoric coastal-interior relations in the Pacific 
Northwest. Anthrop. in British Columbia, No. 4, pp. 26-31. 
BuppinerTon, A. F, 
1927. Abandoned marine benches in southeastern Alaska. Amer. Journ. 
Sci., 5th ser., vol. 18, pp. 45-52. 
De Lacuna, see Laguna, Frederica de. 
Drucker, PHiuir. 
1948. Archeological survey on the northern Northwest Coast. Bur. Amer. 
Ethnol. Bull. 133, Anthrop. Pap. No. 20, pp. 17-142. 
1950. Culture element distributions: X XVI, Northwest Coast. Univ. Cali- 
fornia Anthrop. Rec., vol. 9, No. 3. Berkeley. 
1955. Sources of Northwest Coast culture. New interpretations of aboriginal 
American culture history. 75th Anniv. Vol. Anthrop. Soc. Wash- 
ington. Washington, D. C. 
1958. The Native Brotherhood: Modern Intertribal organizations on the 
Northwest Coast. Bur. Amer. Ethno]. Bull. 168. 
DUFRESNE, FRANK. 
1946. Alaskan animals and fishes. New York. 
Emmons, G. T. 
1908 a. The use of the Chilkat blanket. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Amer. 
Mus. Journ., vol. 3, pp. 65-72. New York. 
1908 b. Petroglyphs in southeastern Alaska. Amer. Anthrop., vol. 10, pp. 
221-230. 
1911. Native account of the meeting between La Pérouse and the Tlingit. 
Amer. Anthrop., vol. 18, pp. 294-298. 
1930. The art of the Northwest Coast Indians. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Nat. 
Hist., vol. 30, pp. 282-292. New York. 


208 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


GARFIELD, VIOLA A. 

1947. Historical aspects of Tlingit clans in Angoon, Alaska. Amer. Anthrop., 
vol. 49, pp. 488-452. 

GoupscHMIDT, WALTER R., and Haas, THroporn H. 

1946. Possessory rights of the natives of southeastern Alaska. A Report to 
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. (Mimeographed.) Washing- 
ton;,.D. GC. 

GsovskI, VLADIMIR. 

1950. Russian administration of Alaska and the status of the Alaskan natives. 

81st Congr., 2d Sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 152. 
Heaty, M. A. 

1882. Alleged shelling of Alaskan villages; extract of a letter . . ., Nov. 20, 
1882, forwarded by Chas. J. Folger, Secretary of the Treasury. 
47th Congr., 2d Sess., House Ex. Doc., No. 9, in vol. 14. 

HerizEer, Ropert H. 


1947. Petroglyphs from southwestern Kodiak Island, Alaska. Proc. Amer. 


Philos. Soc., vol. 91, pp. 284-293. Philadelphia. 
1952. Incised slate figurines from Kodiak Island, Alaska. Amer. Antiq., 
vol. 17, p. 266. 
Hopes, F. W., Epiror. 
1907, 1910. Handbook of American Indians north of Mexico, Bur. Amer. 
Ethnol. Bull. 30, pts. 1 and 2. 
JonzEs, Livineston F. 
1914. A study of the Thlingets of Alaska. New York. 
KeiTrHaun, E. L. 
1940. The petroglyphs of southeastern Alaska. Amer. Antiq., vol. 6, pp. 
123-132. 
Krauss, AUREL. 
1885. Die Tlinkit-Indianer, etc. Jena. 
KRroeser, A. L. 

1939. Cultural and natural areas of native North America. Univ. California. 

Berkeley. 
LAGUNA, FREDERICA DE. 

1933. Mummified heads from Alaska. Amer. Anthrop., vol. 35, pp. 742-744. 

1936. Indian masks from the lower Yukon. Amer. Antiq., vol. 38, pp. 
569-585. 

1947. The prehistory of northern North America as seen from the Yukon. 
Mem. 3, Soc. Amer. Archaeol. 

1952. Some dynamic forces in Tlingit society. Southwestern Journ. Anthrop., 
vol. 8, pp. 1-12. 

1953. Some problems in the relationship between Tlingit archaeology and 
ethnology. Asia and North America: Transpacific Contacts, as- 
sembled by Marian W. Smith. Mem. 9, Soc. Amer. Archaeol., pp. 
53-57. 

1956. Chugach prehistory: the archaeology of Prince William Sound, Alaska. 
Univ. Washington Publ. in Anthrop., vol. 13. Seattle. 

Lanesporrr, G. H. von. 
1817. Voyages and travels in various parts of the world, etc. Carlisle. 
La P#ROUSE, JEAN-FRANCOIS GALAUP DE. 

1937. Le voyage de Lapérouse sur les cétes de ]’Alaska et de la Californie 
(1786), edited by Gilbert Chinard. Cahier X, Historical Documents. 
Institut Frangais de Washington. Baltimore. 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 209 


LIsIANSKY, UREY. 


1814. A voyage round the world.... London. 
MERRIMAN, E. C. 
1883. Affairs in Alaska, Report of ..., Oct. 28, 1882. 47th Cong., 2d Sess. 


House Exec. Doc. No. 9, pt. 3, in vol. 14. 
Morris, WILLIAM GOUVERNEUR. 
1879. Report upon the customs district, public service, and resources of 
Alaska Territory. 45th Cong., 3d Sess. Sen. Exec. Doc., No. 59. 
1882. Shelling of an Indian village in Alaska, letter by ..., Nov. 9, 1882. 
47th Cong., 2d Sess., House Exec. Doc. No. 9, pt. 2, in vol. 14. 
Muir, JouNn. 
1915. Travels in Alaska. Cambridge, Mass. 
PortTER, RoBEeRT R. (Epiror, and in part author). 
1893. Report on the population and resources of Alaska. Eleventh Census, 
1890, vol. 15. Washington, D. C. 
Swan, see Morais, 1879. 
Swanton, JoHN R. 
1907, 1910. See Hopcr, FREDERICK WeEsB, Epiror. 
1908. Social condition, beliefs, and linguistic relationship of the Tlingit 
Indians. 26th Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol., pp. 391-485. 
1909. Tlingit myths and texts. Bur. Amer. Ethnol. Bull. 39. 
UniTEp States Coast aND GEODETIC SURVEY. 
1943. . . . United States Coast Pilot, Alaska. Part 1. Dixon entrance to 
Yakutat Bay. 9th ed. Washington, D. C. 
VANCOUVER, GEORGE. 
1801. A voyage of discovery to the north Pacific Ocean and round the 
world, etc. London. 
Wiiarp, Mrs. HEucene M. 
1884. Life in Alaska, letters of .... Philadelphia. 


APPENDIX 


In the following tabulations are summarized the character and 
contents of the cultural deposits for each square excavated on the 
shelf and saddle of Daxatkanada Island (see figs. 10 to 13). The 
number of identified animal bones is given after the name of the 
species. The field or catalog number and reference to illustrations 
are indicated in brackets for each artifact. 

The proveniences of specimens recovered from other parts of 
Daxatkanada Island and from other sites are summarized at the end. 


DAXATKANADA ISLAND 


Sea otter 1 

Seal 1 

Marmot 1 

Smooth Washington clam 
Cockle 

Common chiton 


Giant chiton 


Sea otter 3 

Sea lion or whale 1 
Smooth Washington clam 
Cockle 


210 


SQUARE A3E 


Surface—6 inches: midden 


Incised slate blade [8, fig. 15, f] 
Red baked paintstone [5] 
Rubbing tool [7] 

Sandstone cup [6] 


6-12 inches: midden 
Rubbing tool [15] 
SQUARE B3E 


Surface—6 inches: midden 


Pestle fragment [3] 

Sandstone cup [4] 

Marble saw [10, pl. 7, r] 
Rubbing tool [25] 

Chipped marble tool [12, pl. 6, j] 
Chipped schist tool [11] 

Incised stone tablet [9, fig. 15, d] 


6-12 inches: midden 


Worked bone [61] 
Clamshell with punched hole [14] 


12-18 inches: midden 
Rubbing tool [16, pl. 7, 6] 


18-24 inches: midden 
Toggle harpoon head, iron stained [13, pl. 8, 6] 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 
SQUARES C3E AND D3E 
Surface—6 inches: midden 
Sea otter 2 Shale whetstone [31] 
Seal 1 Marble scraper [102] 
6-12 inches: midden 
Sea otter 1 Incised stone tablet [77, fig. 15, c] 
Seal 1 
12-18 inches: midden 
No specimens 
Just below 18 inches: midden 
Barbed head fragment [63, pl. 8, f] 
Shale bead [64, pl. 10, q] 
Copper tinkler [65, pl. 10, J] 
SQUARE E3E 
Surface—6 inches: midden 
Sea otter 7 Adz fragment [126] 
Seal 1 Shale whetstone [104] 
Land otter 1 Clamshell scraper ? [127] 
Smooth Washington clam Quartz chip [103] 
Pacific gaper clam Barb for gaff hook [125, pl. 9, J] 
Cockle Worked whale bone [124] 
6-12 inches: midden 
Sea otter 5 Worked whale bone [133] 
Seal 2 


Smooth Washington clam 


Cockle 


Common chiton 


Frilled dogwinkle 


12-18 inches: midden 


Sea otter 6 Sandstone cup [139, pl. 6, e] 
Seal 4 Ulo blade [140, pl. 7, p] 
Smooth Washington clam Bone cut with stone tool [138] 
Cockle 


Blue mussel 


18-24 inches: midden 
No specimens 
24-30 inches: midden 


No specimens 


211 


A 4 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (Bull. 172 


SQUARE F3E 


Surface-6 inches: midden 


Sea otter 1 Toggle harpoon head [114, pl. 8, c] 
Seal 2 Double-pointed bone pin [113] 
Smooth Washington clam 
Cockle 
6-12 inches: midden 
Sea otter 6 
Seal 2 
Smooth Washington clam 
Cockle 
12-18 inches: midden 
Sea otter 7 Yellow shale pencil [142] 
Seal 6 Bone pin fragment [144] 
Deer 1 Bird-bone point [143] 
Cut bone [uncat.] 
18-24 inches: dark forest humus 
Seal 4 Barbed harpoon head [141, pl. 8, A] 
24-80 inches: dark forest humus 
No specimens 
SQUARE G3E (not excavated) 
SQUARE H3E 
Surface—6 inches: midden 
Seal 2 Hammerstone [204] 
SQUARE A2E 
Surface-6 inches: midden 
Seal 2 Hammerstone [19] 
Smooth Washington clam Rubbing tool [24] 
Cockle Barb from harpoon head [22] 
Common chiton Baked red paintstone [23] 


Charred human incisor [21] 


6-12 inches: midden 


Sea otter 1 Red baked paintstone [95] 

Seal 1 2 sandstone, 1 shale whetstones [79, 99, 100] 
Porpoise 1 2 rubbing tools [93, 94] 

Macoma clam Marble scraper ? [96] 


Slender bone pin [97, pl. 9, w] 
Bird-bone tube [80, pl. 9, y] 
Worked sea otter molar [92, pl. 10, m] 


de Laguna] 


Dog or wolf 1 


Sea otter 2 

Sea lion or whale 1 
Smooth Washington clam 
Dogwinkle 


Sea otter 1 
Frilled dogwinkle 


Sea otter 1 

Seal 1 

Sea lion or whale 1 

Bear 1 

Beaver 2 

Smooth Washington clam 
Cockle 


Sea otter 7 

Seal 5 

Porpoise 1 

Deer 1 

Beaver 1 

Dog or wolf 3 

Smooth Washington clam 
Pacific little neck clam 
Common chiton 
Cockle 

Blue mussel 

Frilled dogwinkle 


THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 213 


12-18 inches: ash 


18-24 inches: ash 


No specimens 
SQUARE B2E 


Surface-6 inches: midden 


Shale whetsone [301] 

Shale pebble whetstone [39] 
2 rubbing tools [38, 41] 
Stone rubbing amulet ? [35] 
Sandstone bowl [36, pl. 6, f] 


6-12 inches: midden 


Rubbing tool [17, pl. 7, k] 

Chipped schist tool [29] 

Barbed head fragment [2] 

Sea lion tooth pendant [18, pl. 10, d] 


12-18 inches: ash 


Barbed harpoon head, cut with steel tool ? [1, 
pl. 8, d] 


SQUARE C2E 


Surface-6 inches: midden 


Shale whetstone [26] 
Bone awl [42] 
Chert flake [62, surface—12 inches] 


6-12 inches: midden 


Stone lamp ? [302, pl. 4, a] 

Red baked paintstone [60, 69] 
Shale whetstone [59] 

3 rubbing tools [40, 76; 71, pl. 7, a] 
Barbed harpoon head [70, pl. 8, g] 
Bone pin fragment [101] 

Whale bone cut with stone tool [72] 
2 cut bird bones [57, 78] 

Shale bead [55, pl. 10, 0] 


214 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


12-18 inches: midden; dark forest humus ? 


Sea otter 3 Red baked paintstone and yellowsh ale pencil 
Seal 2 [83] 

Sea lion or whale 1 2 hammerstones [uncat.] 

Smooth Washington clam Marble saw [82] 

Pacific little neck clam 3 rubbing tools [84, 85, 86] 

Cockle Chipped schist tool [98, pl. 6, k] 

Common chiton Boulder chip [66] 

Land snail Double-pointed bone pin [67, pl. 9, e] 


Bird-bone point [81] 
Worked bone [68] 
Brass thimble [87, pl. 10, ff] 


18-24 inches: dark forest humus ? 


Sea otter 2 Double-pointed bone pin [90, pl. 9, a] 
Cut bird bone [91] 
Bird bone bead [89, pl. 10, x] 
Jet bead, drilled with steel tool? [88, pl. 10, 


24-80 inches: dark forest humus ?; subsoil ? 


Rubbing tool [129] 
Cut bird bone [128] 


SQUARE D2E 


Surface-6 inches: midden 


Cockle Toy sandstone cup [37] 
Common chiton Pumice lump [27] 

File dogwinkle 2 rubbing tools [32, 33] 
Channeled dogwinkle Chipped schist tool [28] 


Bird bone point [43] 

Cut bird bone [54] 

Bone nose ? pin [44, pl. 10, k] 
Incised shale pendant [84] 


6-12 inches: midden 


Sea otter 6 Sandstone cup [51, pl. 6, d] 

Seal 4 Whetstone [uncat.] 

Deer 1 2 chipped schist tools [52, 53] 
Smooth Washington clam Chert flake [45] 

Pacific gaper clam Bird bone point [48, pl. 9, 2] 
Pacific little neck clam Worked whale bone [49] 

Cockle Shale bead [46, pl. 10, p] 

Blue mussel Marble disk with pit [74, pl. 10, ee] 


Stone disk inlay ? [47, pl. 10, 7] 
12-18 inches: midden 


Dog or wolf 2 Rubbing tool [75] 
Smooth Washington clam 
Cockle 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 


18-24 inches: dark forest humus 


No specimens 


24-80 inches: dark forest humus 


Sea otter 1 

Seal 1 

Deer 1 

Smooth Washington clam 
Pacific little neck clam 
Common chiton 


Sea otter 6 

Seal 3 

Bear 1 

Beaver 2 

Smooth Washington clam 
Cockle 

Common chiton 

Land snail 


Sea otter 10 
Seal 8 

Deer 1 
Beaver 1 
Barnacle 


No specimens 


SQUARE E2E 


Surface~6 inches: midden 


2 rubbing tools [111, 112] 


Double-pointed bone pin [109] 
Barbed bird-bone point [107, pl. 9, h] 


Worked whale bone [108] 
Stone labret [105, pl. 10, 2] 


Stone disk inlay ? [106, pl. 10, s] 
Carved bone fragment [110, pl. 10, y] 


6-12 inches: midden 


Red baked paintstone [117] 
Bone point [115] 


Bone awl or drill fragment [116] 


Worked bone [uncat.] 


12-18 inches: midden 


Red baked paintstone [159] 
Yellow shale pencil [165] 


3 rubbing tools [135, 156, 163] 
Double-pointed bone pin [134] 


Worked bone [164] 


Bear canine cut for bead [157, pl. 10, h] 


18-24 inches: dark forest humus 


Sea otter 1 
Seal 2 


Incised rubbing tool [167] 
Basalt flake [168, pl. 6, 7] 


Sea otter tooth pendant [152, pl. 10, ¢] 
Stone labret [166, pl. 10, bb] 


24-80 inches: dark forest humus 


Porpoise 1 


30-36 inches: dark forest humus; subsoil 


460927—60——15 


Rubbing tool [160] 


215 


216 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


SQUARE F2E 


Surface-6 inches: midden 


Sea otter 7 Barbed harpoon head fragment [118] 
Seal 2 Double-pointed bone pin [122] 
Porpoise 1 Bird-bone point [123] 

Bear 1 2 unfinished harpoon heads ? [119, 120] 
Smooth Washington clam Bird-bone bead [121, pl. 10, w] 

Cockle 


Common chiton 
File dogwinkle 


6-12 inches: midden 


Sea otter 2 Bone weapon point [123, pl. 9, m] 
Seal 1 Double-pointed bone pin [137] 
Bear 1 


12-18 inches: midden 


Sea otter 2 Rubbing tool [146] 

Seal 4 Oval marble scraper ? [145, pl. 6, g] 
Bear 1 Butt of bone dagger ? [132, pl. 9, ¢] 
Marmot 1 Bone cut with steel tool [130] 
Smooth Washington clam Bone cut with stone tool [131] 
Cockle 


Common chiton 
Channeled dogwinkle 


18-24 inches: midden; dark forest humus 


Sea otter 2 Red baked paintstone [147] 
Porpoise 1 Barbed head fragment [148, pl. 8, e] 
Deer 1 Bone point fragment [149] 

Marmot 1 

Cockle 


24-80 inches: midden; dark forest humus 


Seal 4 4 rubbing tools [172, pl. 7, g; 173, 174, 267] 
Deer 1 Chert flake [175] 

Smooth Washington clam 2 double-pointed bone pins [150, pl. 9, g; 169, 
Cockle pl. 9, 6] 

Common chiton Bone pin frag. [170] 

Giant chiton Cut bird bone [151] 

Land snail Worked whale bone [171] 


80-86 inches: dark forest humus 


Smooth Washington clam Ground lump of cannel coal [161] 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 217 


SQUARE G2E 

Surface-6 inches: midden 
Sea otter 2 Baked claystone cup [154] 
Seal 2 Red baked paintstone [153] 
Smooth Washington clam Double-pointed bone pin [155, pl. 9, c] 
Macoma clam 
Cockle 
Channeled dogwinkle 
Land snail 


6-12 inches: midden 


Sea otter 8 Barbed harpoon head [176, pl. 8, 7] 
Seal 1 Cut bone [158] 
Deer 1 
Dog or wolf 1 
Smooth Washington clam 
Cockle 
12-18 inches: midden 
Sea otter 1 Hammerstone [180, pl. 5, f] 
Deer 1 Rubbing tool [181] 
Smooth Washington clam 2 cut bones [uncat.] 
Cockle Ornamental bone strip [162, pl. 10, 2] 


Common chiton 
Shield limpet 
Channeled dogwinkle 


Land snail 
18-24 inches: midden; dark forest humus 
Seal 2 Hammerstone [214] 
Porpoise 1 Whetstone [213] 
Bear 2 Cut bone [177] 
Beaver 1 Drilled bear jaw [178, pl. 10, hh] 
Marmot 2 Wooden peg [uncat.] 
Smooth Washington clam Wooden post cut by steel ax [pl. 4, c] 
Cockle 


Common chiton 
Frilled dogwinkle 
Channeled dogwinkle 
Plate limpet 

Shield limpet 


SQUARE H2E 
Surface-6 inches: midden 
Sea otter 3 Chipped schist tool [1838] 
Seal 1 Sea otter tooth pendant [246, pl. 10, 6] 


Smooth Washington clam 
Cockle 


218 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


6-12 inches: midden 


Sea otter 2 Double-pointed bone pin [190] 
Seal 2 Cut bird bone [189] 

Smooth Washington clam 

Pacific little neck clam 

Macoma clam 


Cockle 
Land snail 
12-18 inches: midden 
Sea otter 13 2 Rubbing tools [202, 210} 
Seal 2 Barbed harpoon head, steel cut [198, pl. 8, J] 
Porpoise 1 Slender bone pin [227, pl. 9, x] 
Dog or wolf 1 Cut bone [211] 
Smooth Washington clam Wooden peg [uncat.] 


Pacific little neck clam 
Pacific gaper clam 
Cockle 

Land snail 


18-24 inches: midden 


Sea otter 7 

Seal 1 

Sea lion or whale 1 
Bear 1 

Common chiton 
Oregon triton 


24-80 inches: midden 


Sea otter 5 Wooden post and peg [uncat.] 
Seal 1 

Porpoise 1 

Smooth Washington clam 

Pacific little neck clam 


Cockle 
Land snail 
SQUARE ALE (not excavated) 
SQUARE BIE 

Surface-6 inches: midden 
Sea otter 2 Red baked paintstone [184] 
Seal 1 3 rubbing tools [182, 185; 183, pl. 7, 2] 
Deer 1 Chert flake [186] 
Bear 1 Blue tale chip [187] 


Smooth Washington clam 
Pacific little neck clam 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 219 


6-12 inches: midden; dark forest humus 


Sea otter 1 2 rubbing tools [207, 208] 
Deer 1 Boulder chip [209] 
Smooth Washington clam 

Elderberry seeds (in humus) 


12-18 inches: subsoil 


Beaver 1 

SQUARE CLE 

Surface-6 inches: midden 

Sea otter 4 Shale whetstone [217] 
Channeled dogwinkle 2 rubbing tools (216, 220] 

Double-pointed bone pin [219] 

Gaff hook barb [218, pl. 9, k] 

6-12 inches: midden 

Sea otter 5 Barbed harpoon head [279, pl. 8, 7} 
Seal 3 


12-18 inches: burned subsoil 
Human tooth [258] 
SQUARE DIE 


Surface-6 inches: midden 


Sea otter 2 Rubbing tool [256] 
Bone-point fragment [uncat.] 
Cut bone [225] 
Cut bird bone [226] 
Ivory bead [255, pl. 10, n] 


6-12 inches: midden 


Sea otter 3 Rubbing tool fragment [278] 
Smooth Washington clam Cut bone [206] 
Barnacle 


12-18 inches: midden; dark forest humus 


Sea otter 2 2 hammerstones [347 a, b; 348] 
Seal 1 
Smooth Washington clam 


18-24 inches: midden; dark forest humus 


Porpoise | Whetstone [375] 
Smooth Washington clam Chert fiake [376] 


24-80 inches: dark forest humus?; subsoil 


Bear 1 
Smooth Washington clam 


220 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 
SQUARE ELE 


Surface-6 inches: midden 


Seal 2 
Deer 1 
Cockle 
Barnacle 


Sea otter 4 

Porpoise 1 

Smooth Washington clam 
Pacific little neck clam 
Cockle 

Common chiton 

Sitka periwinkle 
Barnacle 

Land snail 


Sea otter 10 

Seal 1 

Deer 1 

Smooth Washington clam 
Kennerley’s Venus clam 
Cockle 

Blue mussel 

Frilled dogwinkle 
Channeled dogwinkle 
Land snail 


Sea otter 5 

Seal 1 

Sea lion or whale 1 

Bear 1 

Smooth Washington clam 
Pacific little neck clam 
Cockle 

Blue mussel 

Common chiton 

Barnacle 


Rubbing tool [191] 
Broken bird bone tube [192] 


6-12 inches: midden 


Pestle fragment [197] 

Shale whetstone [193] 

Utilized chert core [196] 

Bone rod [194, pl. 9, 2] 

Whale bone cut with steel tool [195] 
Shell pendant [205, pl. 10, e] 


12-18 inches: midden 


Boulder chip [874] 

Unbarbed bone arrowhead ? [200] 

2 bird bone points [221 and uncat.] 
Barb for gaff hook [29-25-21] 

Worked whale bone [122 a, b] 

Worked bone [uncat.] 

Bear canine cut for bead [223, pl. 10, g] 
Stone bead or amulet [199] 

Bird-bone bead fragment [224] 


18-24 inches: midden ? 


2 rubbing tools [235, 236] 
Worked mussel shell [237] 


24-80 inches: midden ? dark forest humus ? 


Pacific gaper clam 
Common chiton 
Frilled dogwinkle 


Shale pebble whetstone [378] 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 


SQUARE FIE 


Surface—6 inches: midden 


Sea otter 5 Rubbing tool [203] 
Seal 1 Worked bone [257] 
Marmot 1 


Smooth Washington clam 
Pacific little neck clam 
Cockle 

Common chiton 

Giant chiton 


6-12 inches: midden 


Sea otter 4 3 rubbing tools (252, 253; 254, pl. 7, d] 
Seal 2 Barbed head recut as pin [355] 

Deer 1 Double-pointed bone pin [356, pl. 9, f] 
Smooth Washington clam Bird-bone bead ? fragment [25] 

Pacific little neck clam Iron implement [311, pl. 10, gg] 
Macoma clam 

Cockle 


Blue mussel 
Common chiton 


12-18 inches: midden; dark midden 


Sea otter 10 Bone point fragment [308] 
Seal 3 Incised stone tablet [309, fig. 15, 6] 
Smooth Washington clam Beaver tooth tool [316, pl. 9, p] 


18-24 inches: midden; dark midden 


Sea otter 1 Red baked paintstone [372] 
Seal 1 Hard rock whetstone [353] 
Porpoise 1 Boulder chip scraper [371] 

Dog or wolf 1 Awl ? [851] 


Worked whale bone [352] 
Worked bone [346] 


24-80 inches: dark midden 


Sea otter 4 Rubbing tool [365] 
Sea lion or whale 1 Cracked quartz core [381] 
Worked whale bone [364] 


0-36 inches: dark midden; dark forest humus 


Seal 2 Double-pointed bone pin [326] 
Beaver 1 


36-40 inches: dark forest humus; subsoil 


Basalt core [380] 


221 


222 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (Bull. 172 


SQUARE GIE 
Surface-6 inches: midden 


Smooth Washington clam Rubbing tool [306] 
Cockle 
Common chiton 


6-12 inches: midden 


Sea otter 6 Splitting adz fragment reshaped as planing adz 
Seal 2 (342, pl. 6, a] 

Porpoise 1 

Marmot 1 


12-18 inches: midden 


Sea otter 3 Worked bone [370] 
Seal 2 

Smooth Washington clam 

Pacific gaper clam 

Cockle 

Whelk 

False jingle 


18-24 inches: midden 
Barbed harpoon head [348, pl. 8, m] 


SQUARE HIE 


Surface-6 inches: midden 


Sea otter 2 
Beaver 1 
6-12 inches: midden 
Sea otter 7 Wooden handle ? [854] 
Seal 2 Unbarbed bone arrowhead ? [863] 


Smooth Washington clam 
Plate limpet 


2-18 inches: midden; subsoil 


Sea otter 6 Whetstone [341] 

Seal 1 Barbed point frag. [327] 
Porpoise 1 

Marmot 1 


Blue mussel 
Frilled dogwinkle 
Whelk 


SQUARE A1LW (not excavated) 


de Laguna? THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 223 


SQUARE B1W 


Surface-6 inches: midden 


Sea otter 1 Chert flake [201] 
6-12 inches: ash 
No specimens 
12-18 inches: subsoil 
No specimens 
SQUARE CIiW 


Surface—6 inches: midden 


Sea otter 4 3 rubbing tools [229, 230, 231) 
Barnacle Double-pointed bone pin [228] 


6-12 inches: midden; dark forest humus 


Sea otter 5 Bird-bone bead [273] 
Seal 1 

Deer 1 

Beaver 1 

Land snail 


12-18 inches: dark forest hwinus; subsoil 


Sea otter 1 
SQUARE D1W 
Surface-6 inches: midden 
Sea otter 7 Red baked paintstone [243] 
Frilled dogwinkle Double-pointed bone pin [241, pl. 9, d] 
Land snail Beaver tooth tool [242, pl. 9, o] 


Elderberry seeds 


6-12 inches: midden; dark forest humus 


Sea otter 7 Shale whetstone [250] 
Seal 4 2 rubbing tools [247, 249] 
Blue mussel Bone cut with steel knife [248] 


War club head (in humus) [275, pl. 5, c] 
Adz fragment (in humus) [276] 


12-18 inches: dark forest humus 


Sea otter 9 Rubbing tool [314] 
Seal 4 2 worked whale bones [297, 315] 
Smooth Washington clam Cut bone [336] 


Pacific little neck clam 
Macoma clam 

Cockle 

Blue mussel 

Frilled dogwinkle 
Barnacle 


224 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


18-24 inches: dark forest humus 


Sea otter 1 
24-80 inches: dark forest humus 
Sea otter 3 Rubbing tool [351] 
Seal 5 
Porpoise |] 
Cockle 
SQUARE ELW 

Surface-6 inches: midden 
Sea otter 3 Rubbing tool [265] 
Seal 3 Stone bead or amulet [266, pl. 10, cc] 


Smooth Washington clam 
Pacific little neck clam 
Common chiton 

File dogwinkle 


6-12 inches: midden; dark forest humus 


Sea otter 3 Red baked paintstone [800] 
Seal 3 Rubbing tool [299] 
Land otter 1 Whale bone cut with steel tool [298] 


Smooth Washington clam 
Pacific little neck clam 

Pacific gaper clam 

Cockle 

Common chiton 

Frilled dogwinkle 

Shield limpet 

Concentrated sea urchin spines 


Barnacle 
Land snail 
12-18 inches: dark forest humus 
Pacific gaper clam Bone pendant [286, pl. 10, J] 
18-24 inches: dark forest humus 
Hard rock whetstone [886] 
SQUARE F1W 
Surface-6 inches: midden 

Sea otter 2 Hard rock whetstone [285] 
Common chiton Worked whale bone [284] 


Oregon triton 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 225 


6-12 inches: midden 


Sea otter 5 Red baked paintstone [337] 

Seal 2 2 rubbing tools (280, 290] 
Beaver 1 Chipped schist tool [281, pl. 6, h] 
Smooth Washington clam Boulder chip [338] 

Pacific little neck clam Barb for gaff hook [289] 

Cockle Bone pin or barb [277] 

Shield limpet Worked whale bone [307] 

File dogwinkle 

Barnacle 


12-18 inches: midden 
No specimens 


18-24 inches: midden 


Sea otter 2 2 rubbing tools [339, 340] 
Smooth Washington clam Worked whale bone [358] 
Pacific gaper clam 

Cockle 


Blue mussel 
Channeled dogwinkle 


Whelk 
24-30 inches: dark forest humus; subsoil 
Chert flake [384] 
Whetstone [383] 
Barbed harpoon head [382] 
Barbed wooden head fragment [388, in post- 
hole] 
SQUARE G1W 
Surface-6 inches: midden 
Sea otter 2 Whetstone [318] 
Seal 1 
Cockle 
Whelk 
6-12 inches: midden 
Sea otter 4 Red baked paintstone [317] 
Porpoise 1 


Cockle 


226 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 
12-18 inches: midden 
J 


Sea otter 6 Rubbing tool [361] 

Seal 3 Chert flake [362] 
Truncate soft-shell clam Worked bone [360] 
Cockle Bone pin fragment [385] 


Common chiton 

Blue mussel 
Channeled dogwinkle 
Shield limpet 


18-24 inches: midden; subsoil 


Sea otter 5 


Seal 1 
Deer 1 
Bear 1 
SQUARE H1W 
Surface-6 inches: midden 
Sea otter 1 Wooden ulo handle ? [313] 
Seal 4 
Beaver 1 
6-12 inches: midden 
Sea otter 4 Whetstone [349] 
Elderberry seeds Boulder chip [850] 
12-18 inches: midden; subsoil 
Bear 3 Ivory pendant with metal-cut dot-and-circle 
design [810, pl. 10, f] 
SQUARE 0-U 
Surface-6 inches: moss; midden 
No specimens 
6-12 inches: midden; ‘‘guano”’ 
No specimens 
12-18 inches: dark midden 
Sea otter 1 Hammerstone [379] 
18-24 inches: dark midden 
Sea otter 2 Red baked paintstone [392] 
Seal 1 Whetstone [891] 
Smooth Washington clam Basalt flake [387] 


Worked bone [889] 
Stone bead [390, pl. 10, dd] 


24-80 inches: dark midden 
Barbed harpoon head [3877, pl. 8, 2] 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 227 


SQUARE 0-T 


Surface-6 inches: moss; midden 


No specimens 


6-12 inches: midden; ‘‘guano”’ 


Marble scraper? [319] 
2 bone pins? [321, 322] 
Worked bone [823] 
Incised stone tablet [320, fig. 15, e] 
Wooden peg [uncat.] 
12-18 inches: dark midden 


No specimens 


18-24 inches: dark midden 


Sea otter 1 Hammerstone [333] 
Seal 1 Rubbing tool [331] 
Cut bone [330] 
Bone split for marrow [329] 
Unfinished stone labret? [832] 
24-80 inches: dark midden 


Rubbing tool [344, pl. 7, 7] 
Antler dagger [335, pl. 9, r] 
Butt of bone spearhead? [328, pl. 9, s] 


SQUARE 0-S 


Surface-6 inches: moss; midden 


Rubbing tool or reamer [288] 


6-12 inches: midden; ‘‘guano”’ 


Barb of harpoon head [282] 
Glass bottle fragment [260] 


12-18 inches: dark midden 
Schist knife fragment [287] 
Bone point fragment [259] 
Bone cut with steel knife [uncat.] 
SQUARE 1-U 
Surface-6 inches: moss; midden 

No specimens 

6-12 inches: midden 
Rubbing tool [805, pl. 7, hj 

12-18 inches: midden 


Sea otter 1 Hard rock whetstone [368] 
Smooth Washington clam 


228 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


18-24 inches: midden (?) 
No specimens 
24-80 inches: midden (?) 
Hammerstone [345] 
SQUARE 1-T 
Surface-6 inches: moss; midden 
No specimens 
6-12 inches: midden 
No specimens 
12-18 inches: midden; ‘‘quano” 
Adz fragment [367] 
18-24 inches: midden 


Rubbing tool or reamer (357, pl. 7, 0, at 17-27 
inches] 


24-30 inches: midden 
Rubbing tool [334] 
SQUARE 1-S 

Surface-6 inches: moss; midden 


Cockle 
Common chiton 


6-12 inches: midden 


Sea otter 1 Rubbing tool [262] 
Smooth Washington clam Bird-bone awl [261] 
Giant chiton Worked bone [274] 


Cut bird bone [263] 


12-18 inches: “guano”; dark midden 


Seal 2 Rubbing tool [245] 

Deer | Bone pin fragment |244] 

Marmot 1 Slate knife [272] 

Giant chiton Chipped schist tool [271, pl. 6, 2, at 9-15 
inches] 


18-24 inches: dark midden 
Sea otter 2 
24-80 inches: dark midden 


No specimens 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 229 


SQUARE 2-T 
Surface-—6 inches: moss; midden 
No specimens 
6-12 inches: midden 
Double-pointed bone pin [268] 
12-18 inches: midden; ‘‘guano’’; bark 


Smooth Washington clam Unfinished rubbing tool ? [239, pl. 7, m] 
2 ulo fragments? [240, 285], bottom of deposit 
Cut bone [238], bottom of deposit 
Wooden handle or peg [uncat.], bottom of 


deposit 
18-24 inches: midden; subsoil 
Sea otter 1 Barb for gaff hook [312] 
Beaver 1 


Smooth Washington clam 
SQUARE 2-S 


Surface-6 inches: moss; midden 


Rubbing tool [234] 
2 worked bones [232, 233] 


6-12 inches: midden; subsoil 


Chipped schist tool [215] 
Red baked paintstone [270] 
Slate ulo blade [269] 

TOP OF DAXATKANADA ISLAND 


Rubbing tool with incised face [49-25-19, fig. 
15, a] 
Splitting adz [296, pl. 5, a] 
EAST SLOPE OF DAXATKANADA ISLAND 
Barb from harpoon head [304] 


SURFACE OF SHELF 
Whetstone [373] 


SHELF, DEPTH UNKNOWN 


2 rubbing tools [49-25~-18, pl. 7, c; 49-25-401 
Cut bird bone [312] 


BEACH OF DEXATKANADA ISLAND 


2 splitting adzes [291; 294, pl. 5, 6] 
Planing adz fragment [292, pl. 6, c] 
Adz fragment [366] 

2 unfinished adzes (293, 49-25-17] 

Unfinished marble scraper ? [295] 


230 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 


PILLSBURY POINT 


Layer A: Surface—-6 inches: 
Hammerstone [P—24] 
Barb of harpoon head [P-17] 
Bone pin fragment [P-4] 
Bone awl [P-28] 
Layer B: 6 inches: 
Toggle harpoon head [P-12] 
Green slate whetstone [P-9] 
Hard rock whetstone [P-10] 
10 inches: 
Metal-cut barbed arrowhead [P-13, pl. 8, a| 
Layer C: 6-12 inches: 
Greenstone rubbing tool [P-8, pl. 7, n] 
12 inches: 
Barbed head fragment [P-14] 
Bird-bone point [P-15, pl. 9, 7] 
26 inches: 
Rubbing tool [P-6] 
Layer D: 12-18 inches: 
2 worked bones [P-29, P-30] 
Sandstone saw [P-2] 
Sawed shale [P-3] 
Layer E: (depth ?): 
Unfinished adz or scraper [P-31] 
Layer F: (depth ?): 
Bone pin fragment [P-7] 
47 inches: 
Bird-bone bead [P-—24, pl. 10 ¢] 
Layer G: (depth ?): 
Worked whale bone [uncat.]} 
29-30 inches 
Whetstone with red paint [P-1, pl. 6, b] 
§1 inches: 
Whetstone [P—32] 
Layers A-E: (depth ?): 
2 worked bones [P-19, P-20] 
Worked bird bone [P-18] 
Layer unknown: 6-12 inches: 
Powdered red hematite [uncat.] 
Mussel shel! knife fragment [P-—5, pl. 9, n] 
18 inches: 
Beaver tooth tool [P—25, pl. 9, q] 
Sea otter tooth pendant [P-11, pl. 10, a] 
Depth unknown: 
Shale whetstone [P-—27] 
Cut bird bone [P-21] 
Beach: 
Unfinished splitting adz [P—23] 


[Bull, 172 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 231 


OTHER SITES 
Angoon; west beach: 
Splitting adz [X-8] 
Gan4z Woman’s Fort: 
Maul head [49-25-14, pl. 4, 6] 
Wooden object with copper band [X—11] 
Vicinity of, purchased: 
3 pestles or hand hammers [X-6, pl. 5, e; X-7, 
pl. 5, d; X-10] 
Sullivan Point: 
Sandstone saw [X-3, pl. 7, q] 
Slate knife fragment [X—1] 
Cut bone [X-2] 
Killisnoo Harbor Village: 
Notched slate tablet [X—5} 
Hood Bay Fort; midden below: 
Barbed harpoon head [49-25-10] 
Tang of arrowhead? [49-25-9] 
Midden on top: 
Barbed harpoon head [49-—25-11, pl. 8, k] 
Stone labret [49-25-12, pl. 10, aa] 
Chaik Bay, beach below fort: 
Barbed harpoon head fragment [49-25-15] 
Whitewater Bay, cache pit: 
Iron cannon ball fragment [49-25-23] 
Hudson’s Bay Company blue glass bead [49-25-22] 


EXPLANATION OF PLATES 


Puate 1 
The West Beach of Angoon, 1950. (Frontispiece.) 


PLATE 2 
Angoon Houses, 1950 and 1890. 

a, Lineage houses, Angoon. Left to right: Packed Solid House (No. 9); Steel 
House (No. 8); Clear Spring House (No. 7); Middle of the Village House (No. 
6); Bear House (No. 5); Killer Whale House (No. 4). (Photographed in 1950. 
See figure 17 for location of houses.) 

b, Killer Whale House (No. 4) as it was in 1890. 


PLATE 3 
Daxatkanada Island and causeway. 
a, Looking north from Channel Point Island, showing the causeway. 
b, Looking west, the causeway. 
PLATE 4 
Artifacts and posthole. 
a, Stone vessel, shelf at Daxatkanada Island, C2E 6-12 inches (No. 302). (Scale 
in centimeters.) 
b, Maul head, Ganax Women’s Fort, Angoon (45-25-14). (Scale in centimeters.) 
c, Wooden post from bottom of shelf at Daxatkanada Island, G2E. (Scale in 
inches.) 
d, Posthole (left) and roothole (right), subsoil on shelf at Daxatkanada Island. 
(The white arrow above the posthole is 12 inches long.) 
460927—60——_16 


232 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


PLATE 5 


Splitting adzes, hammers, etc., from Daxatkanada Island unless otherwise 
specified. (Scale in centimeters.) 


a, Splitting adz, serpentine, top of Daxatkanada Island (No. 296). 

b, Splitting adz, green sandstone, Daxatkanada beach (No. 294). 

c, Head for picklike club, dark crystalline rock, D1W 6-12 inches (No. 275). 

d, e, Pestles or hand hammers, dark igneous rock, purchased at Angoon (Nos. 
X-7, X-6). 

f, Chert hammerstone, G2E 12-18 inches (No. 180). 


PLATE 6 


Miscellaneous stone specimens, from Daxatkanada Island unless otherwise 
specified. (Scale in centimeters.) 


a, Planing adz made from broken greenstone splitting adz, G1E 8 inches (No. 342). 

b, Whetstone of micaceous sandstone on which red hematite paint has been mixed, 
Pillsbury Point, layer G, 29-30 inches (No. P-1). 

c, Butt end of greenstone planing adz, Daxatkanada beach (No. 292). 

d, Sandstone cup, D2E 6-12 inches (No. 51). 

e, Sandstone cup, E3E 12-18 inches (No. 139). 

f, Sandstone bowl or lamp, B2E 5 inches (No. 36). 

g, Oval marble scraper (?), F2E 12-18 inches (No. 145). 

h, Chipped implement, micaceous schist, F1W 6-12 inches (No. 281). 

i, Chipped implement, micaceous schist, 1-S 9-15 inches (No. 271). 

j, Chipped implement, marble, B3E 3 inches (No. 12). 

k, Chipped implement, micaceous schist, C2E 12-18 inches (No. 98). 

l, Massive basalt flake, E2E 18-24 inches (No. 168). 


PLATE 7 


Stone rubbing tools and saws, from Daxatkanada Island unless otherwise specified. 
(Seale in centimeters.) 


a, Slate rubbing tool, stubby, C2E 6-12 inches (No. 71). 

b, Marble rubbing tool, stubby, B3E 14 inches (No. 16). 

c, Slate rubbing tool, bladelike, shelf (49-25-18). 

d, Slate rubbing tool, bladelike, F1E 6-12 inches (No. 254). 

e, Slate rubbing tool, chisellike, F1E 27 inches (No. 365). 

f, Slate rubbing tool, chisel shaped, east slope (No. 303). 

g, Slate rubbing tool, chisellike, F2E 24-30 inches (No. 172). 

h, Slate rubbing tool, chisellike, 1-U 6-12 inches (No. 305). 

i, Slate rubbing tool, knifelike, beveled, B1E 0-6 inches (No. 183). 
j, Slate rubbing tool, knifelike, flat, O-T 26-30 inches (No. 344). 
k, Slate rubbing tool, knifelike, flat, B2E 9 inches (No. 17). 

l, Slate rubbing tool, knifelike, flat, G1E 0-6 inches (No. 306). 

m, Unfinished rubbing tool (?), slate, 2-T 16 inches (No. 239). 

n, Unfinished rubbing tool (?), greenstone, Pillsbury Point, layer C (No. P-8). 
0, Slate rubbing tool or reamer, 1-T 17-27 inches (No. 357). 

p, Slate ulo, E3E 12-18 inches (No. 140). 

q, Sandstone saw, Sullivan Point (No. X—3). 

r, Marble saw, B3E 4 inches (No. 10). 


de Laguna] THE STORY OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY 233 


PLATE 8 


Bone weapons, from Daxatkanada Island unless otherwise specified. (Scale in 
centimeters.) 


a, Slender barbed point for arrow (?), Pillsbury Point, layer B, 10 inches (No. 
P-18). 

b, Half of toggle harpoon head, B3E 19 inches (No. 13). 

c, Half of toggle harpoon head, F3E 0-6 inches (No. 114). 

d, Barbed harpoon head, B2E 17 inches (No. 1). 

e, Barbed harpoon head, F2E 18-24 inches (No. 148). 

f, Barbed harpoon head, C3E below 18 inches (No. 63). 

g, Barbed harpoon head, C2E 6-12 inches (No. 70). 

h, Barbed harpoon head, F3E 18-24 inches (No. 141). 

z, Barbed harpoon head, O—-U 27-28 inches (No. 377). 

j, Barbed harpoon head, G2E 6-12 inches (No. 176). 

k, Barbed harpoon head, Hood Bay Fort (49-25-11). 

l, Barbed harpoon head, H2E 12-18 inches (No. 198). 

m, Barbed harpoon head, G1E 21 inches (No. 348). 

n, Barbed harpoon head, C1E 6-12 inches (No. 279). 


PLATE 9 


Bone and shell implements, from Daxatkanada Island unless otherwise specified. 
(Scale in centimeters). 


a, Double-pointed bone pin, C2E 18-24 inches (No. 90). 

b, Double-pointed bone pin, F2E 24-30 inches (No. 169). 

c, Double-pointed bone pin, G2E 0-6 inches (No. 155). 

d, Double-pointed bone pin, D1W 0-6 inches (No. 241). 

e, Double-pointed bone pin, C2E 12-18 inches (No. 67). 

f, Double-pointed bone pin, F1E 6-12 inches (No. 356). 

g, Double-pointed bone pin, F2E 24-30 inches (No. 150). 

h, Barbed bird-bone point, E2E 0-6 inches (No. 107). 

1, Bird-bone point, D2E 6-12 inches (No. 48). 

j, Bird-bone point, Pillsbury Point, layer C, 12 inches (No. P-15). 
k, Gaff hook barb, rib, C1E 0-6 inches (No. 218). 

l, Gaff hook barb, bear penis bone, E3E 0-6 inches (No. 125). 
m, Bone weapon point, F2E 6-12 inches (No. 136). 

n, Mussel shell knife, Pillsbury Point, 6-12 inches (No. P-5). 
o, Beaver tooth tool, D1W 0-6 inches (No. 242). 

p, Beaver tooth tool, F1E 18 inches (No. 316). 

q, Beaver tooth tool, Pillsbury Point, 18 inches (No. P-25). 
r, Antler dagger or spear point, O-T 28 inches (No. 335). 

s, Butt of heavy implement, O—T bottom of midden on saddle (No. 328). 
t, Butt of heavy implement, F2E 12-18 inches (No. 132). 

u, Bone arrowhead, H1E 12 inches (No. 363). 

v, Bone rod, E1E 6-12 inches (No. 194). 

w, Slender bone pin, A2E 6-12 inches (No. 97). 

x, Slender bone pin, H2E 12-18 inches (No. 227). 

y, Bird-bone tube, A2E 6-12 inches (No. 80). 


234 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


PuatTE 10 


Ornaments and miscellaneous specimens, from Daxatkanada Island unless 
otherwise specified. (Scale in centimeters.) 


a, Tooth pendant, Pillsbury Point, 18 inches(No. P-11). 
b, Tooth pendant, H2E 0-6 inches (No. 246.) 

c, Tooth pendant, E2E 18-24 inches (No. 152). 

d, Tooth pendant, B2E 11 inches (No. 18). 

e, Shell pendant, E1E 6-12 inches (No. 205). 

f, Ivory pendant, H1W 14 inches (No. 310). 

g, Bear canine cut for bead, E1E 12-18 inches (No. 223). 
h, Bear canine cut for bead, E2E 12-18 inches (No. 157). 
z, Ornamental bone strip, G2E 12-18 inches (No. 162). 

j, Bone pendant, D1W 12-18 inches (No. 286). 

k, Bone nose (?) pin, D2E 5 inches (No. 44). 

l, Copper tinkler, C3E below 18 inches (No. 65). 

m, Worked sea otter molar, A2E 6-12 inches (No. 92). 
n, Ivory bead, D1E 0-6 inches (No. 255). 

o, Shale bead, C2E 6-12 inches (No. 55). 

p, Shale bead, D2E 6-12 inches (No. 46). 

q, Shale bead, C3E below 18 inches (No. 64). 

r, Slatey disk for inlay (?), D2E 6-12 inches (No. 47). 

s, Slatey disk for inlay (?), E2E 0-6 inches (No. 106). 

t, Bird-bone bead, Pillsbury Point, layer F, 47 inches (No. P-24). 
u, Jet bead, C2E 18-24 inches on shelf (No. 88). 

v, Bird-bone bead, C1W 6-12 inches (No. 273). 

w, Bird-bone bead, F2E 0-6 inches (No. 121). 

x, Bird-bone bead, C2E 18-24 inches (No. 89). 

y, Bone carving, E2E 0-6 inches (No. 110). 

z, Soapstone labret, E2E 0-6 inches (No. 105). 

aa, Red baked shale labret. Hood Bay Fort (49-25-12). 
bb, Soapstone labret, E2E 18-24 inches (No. 166). 

cc, Sandstone bead, E1W 0-6 inches (No. 266). 

dd, Limestone bead, O-U 18-24 inches (No. 390). 

ee, Marble disk with pit, D2E 6-12 inches (No. 74). 

ff, Brass thimble, C2E 17 inches (No. 87). 

gg, Iron implement, F1E 6-12 inches (No. 311). 

hh, Young bear jaw with hole, G2E 18-24 inches (No. 178). 


Puate 11 


Petroglyphs, Sitkoh Bay. (Numbers refer to location of petroglyphs as given on 
sketch map in figure 8, p. 76.) 


a, Concentric circle with arms (No. 2). 

b, Unidentified figure (No. 7). 

c, Spiral (No. 8). 

d, Frog, etc. (No. 1). 

e, Devilfish (?) (No. 3). 

f, Oval, “copper,” and concentric circles (Nos. 6, 5, 4). 


WZ ePeATE 


BULLETIN 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 


TT 


§ 


I 


950 and 1890. 


1 
(For explanation, s¢ 


Angoon Houses, 


231.) 


e Dp. 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 172. PEATEs 


Daxatkanada Island and causeway. 


(For explanation, see p. 231.) 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 172 PLATE 4 


Artifacts and posthole. (a, b, Seale in centimeters; c, scale in inches.) 


(For explanation, see p. 231.) 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULELERIN, 172) “PEATEs 


cr 
en ee 
ae oh 
- 
- : we 


; oP % 
Be A; 
De i hg ee 


Splitting adzes, hammers, ete. (Seale in centimeters.) 


(For explanation, see p. 232.) 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 172 PLATE 6 


Miscellaneous stone specimens. (Scale in centimeters.) 


(For explanation, see p. 232.) 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 172 PLATE 7 


Pan mo lin mee ln I 


r 
ZBEEESE 


Stone rubbing tools and saws. (Seale in centimeters.) 


74 


(For explanation, sce p. 232.) 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 172 PLATE 8 


Bone weapons. (Scale in centimeters.) 


(For explanation, see p. 233.) 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 172 PLATE 9 


Pone and shell implements. (Seale in centimeters.) 


(For explanation, see p. 233.) 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 172 PLATE 10 


Ornaments and miscellaneous specimens. (Scale in centimeters.) 


(For explanation, see p. 234.) 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 172 PLATE 11 


Petroglyphs, Sitkoh Bay. 


(For explanation, see p. 234.) 


INDEX 


Abbott, R. Tucker, 91 
Abrading tools, 105-108 
Acmea pelta, 92 
testudinalis patina, 92 
testudinalis scutum, 92 
Adams, U.S.S., commanded by Capt. 
Pea Merriman, 163, 164, 165, 
16 
Admiralty Island, brown grizzly pre- 
serve, 25-26 
fishing stations on, 10 
North of Kootznahoo Inlet, 35-36 
part of Angoon Territory, 23, 24 
(map), 25, 31, 32, 40, 49, 50, 52, 
93, 94, 104, 138, 137 
south end of, 59-60, 102 
“Adolescent Girl,’’? native name for a 
rock, 42 
Adz, fragment, 228 
greenstone, 30, 69, 100 
metal, 86 
planing, 99, 100-101, 222, 229 
splitting, 33, 39, 45, 47, 89, 96, 99, 
100, 222, 229, 230, 231 
stone, 15, 32, 34, 99-101, 105, 142, 
211, 223, 230 
Ahn-chuka-hit, near the end of the vil- 
lage house, 177 
et, village central house, 
1 


Ahn-kharky-tarn, Dog Salmon, 178 


’Akw Wuckitan, Auke Bay or Juneau 
branch of sib, 27 
Alaska, discovery of, 128 
established as Territory, 162 
purchase of, from Russia, 128, 170 
Alaska coastal Airways, float for planes 
of, 4 
Alaska Fish-Salting and By-Products 
Company, 197 
Sr aa Brotherhood, camp of, 


9 
Committees, 195, 196 
Constitution of, 195 
efforts on behalf of natives, 8, 27 
founding of, 158, 194 
Grand Camp, 195, 196 
Grand Officers, 195 
opposed to old ways, 180, 192 
purposes of, 195-196 
Alaska Native Brotherhood Conven- 
tion, 191 
Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall, 196 
Alaska Native Service, help from, 10, 11 
Alaska Native Service School, Angoon, 
194 


Alaska Native Sisterhood, affiliated with 
Brotherhood, 194 
effect of, on natives, 8 
help given by, 10 
Alaskan Eskimo, 5 
Alaska Oil and Guano Company, 175 
Alaska Territorial Museum, Juneau, 33 
Aleut, 6, 27, 112, 195, 197, 205 
dances of, adopted by Tlingit, 15 
refugees, 14, 15 
Aleut-Eskimo and Wakoshan, 6 
Aleut-Pacific Eskimo area, 5 
Alexander Archipelago, Alaska, 23, 24 


(map 

Alsek River, 206 

American citizenship, effect on natives, 8 

American Federation of Labor, coopera- 
tion with Alaska Native Brother- 
hood, 196 

Amicula stelleri, 91 

Amulets, 50, 119, 122-125, 128 

stone, 119, 123, 213, 224 

‘Anchor for Angoon,’’ native name for 
a stone, 48, 71, 72, 182 

Andanott, Charlie, chief of Shteen-hit, 
177, 182, 193 


Anderson, Charley, white owner of 
“Log Jam Village,’ 39, 182, 
133, 134 


Angoon, 28-30 
erence ete specimens from, 99- 
12 


art, virtually dead, 16 
destruction of, native versions, 
168-172 
destruction of by Coast Guard, 19, 
46,#127, 158-159,%161, 162, 163, 
166-167, 182, 188, 201 
explorations ’made jat,¥10, 11, 12, 
24 (map), 25, 33, 34 
founding of, 131-133, 206 
history of, 128-158, 172-174 
houses of, 176-192 
‘Isthmus Town,” 25, 31, 36, 37 
(map), 38, 39, 45, 46, 47-48, 53, 
55, 63, 64, 71, 112, 123, 128, 131, 
134, 135, 1386, 165, 166, 172, 177, 
185, 203, 206, 231 
native fort on, 47 
population of, 27, 46 
proposals to move from, 199 
recent history of, 158-200 
sketch map, 179 
town council, 180 
tribal territory, 23, 24 (map)—79 
Angoon Community Association, ac- 
tivities of, 10, 51 
incorporation of, 197 
235 


236 


Angoon Decitan, 149 

Angoon Isthmus, 39, 71, 132, 133 

Angoon Peninsula, 25, 36 

Angoon people, ix, x, 10, 14, 23, 24 
(map)—28, 59, 60, 64, 67, 69, 94, 
104, 135, 137, 143, 146, 147, 151, 
152, 153, 154, 162, 175 

peace between the Wrangell and, 

154 

AMER gH eee, 26-27, 67, 69-70, 146-158, 


Angoon Territory, explanation of, 23, 
24 (map), 138 
Angoon today, 192-200 
Angoon Wuckitan, attack on by Sitka 
Kagwantan, 157 
’Angtn, 25, 135 
Animals, 93-94 
Ankakehittan, Angoon sib, 25 
Anq!a’ketan, of Naltuck-an of White- 
_ _Water Bay, 135, 177 
’Anxakhitan, origin of, 135-136 
’Anxakhitan, Raven sib, 27, 28, 41, 
45, 49, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 69, 
132, 143, 148, 173, 176 (list), 179 
(map), 180, 182, 184, 191, 198, 
204, 206 
rights of, 70, 135 
7Anxakhitan Houses, 185-186 
Appendix, 210-231 
Archeological sites, general character, 
30-35 
at Daxatkanada Island and Pills- 
bury Point, 79-97 
most promisihg, 70 
Archeological work, techniques for, 11-12 
Arctic Institute of North America, ix 
Argillite, tools of, 101 
Argobuccinus oregonense, 91 
Armor, wooden slat, 102 
“Around-the-Edge House,’ 185 
Arrowhead, barbed, 114-115, 211, 216, 
222, 230, 231 
bone, 53, 105, 114, 115 
hardwood, 114 
unbarbed, 115, 220, 222 
Arrows, 112, 114 
harpoon, 112 
Arrowshafts, featherless, 112, 114 
Artifacts, finding of, 32, 33, 34, 35, 88, 
89, 90, 96 
stone, 34, 123 
wooden, 47 , 
As4nge or As&nke, native name for 
Freshwater Bay, 60 
’As yatxi hit, “Young Tree House,” 180 
Athabaskan interior, migrations from, 6 
Athabaskans, 27, 112, 203, 206 
trade with, 7 
Atka, Aleuts from, 197 
Auke, sites at, 24 (map), 136 
Auke Bay or Juneau Wouckitan, 27, 35 
Auke tribes, 25, 28 
Auke Village, near Juneau, 60 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 


[Bull. 172 


Awls, 116, 118, 212, 221 
bird bone, 228, 230 
bone, 15, 117, 118, 213, 215 
deer bone, 30 
stone, 15 
Axes, metal, 86, 90, 91 
stone, 39, 44, 96 
Axhead, of White manufacture, 32 
“Ax-pick,”’ 96 


Baby Pouch, vicinity of Angoon, 37 
(map), 38, 40-41, 44, 64 
Balanus cartosus, 92 
glandula, 92 
Ball, M. D., Collector of Customs at 
Sitka, 152, 161 
Bancroft, Hubert H., information from, 
159, 163, 165, 168, 171 
Baranof, Russian explorer, 146, 202 
Baranof Island, Angoon Territory, 23, 
24 (map), 58 
site at, 10, 22 
south of Peril Strait, 69, 147, 196 
Barbs, fishhook, 116, 211, 212, 2138, 219, 
220, 221, 225, 229 
Barghoorn, Dr. Elso E., wood identified 


by, 90 
Barnacles, 92, 97, 215, 219, 220, 223, 
224, 225 
used as pendants, 120 
used as vases, 16 
Bartlett, Lt. C. W., 163, 164, 165, 
166, 167 
Basalt, 102, 111, 221 
Basalt flake, 215, 226 
Basket Bay, Chichagof Island, 10, 24 
(map), 61-63, 62 (map), 70, 104, 
132, 136, 178, 184 
the story of, 156-137 
Basket Bay Chief, 193 
“Basket Bay People,’’ Angoon sib, 27, 
136, 177, 179, 184 
Basket House, Basket Bay branch of 
Decitan, 169 (map), 185 
“Basket or Arch House,” of Decitan 
people, 61, 184 
Baskets, 16, 30 
watertight, used for cooking, 102 
Bathing, hardening process, 146 
Battle Creek, Glacier Bay, 143, 150 
“Battle Creek,’”’ Todd Cannery, 68 
‘‘Bay on the other side,’’ native name 
for Tenakee, 61 
Beads, 119, 121 
blue glass, 57, 127, 231 
bone, 119, 121, 214, 216, 220, 221, 
223, 230 
disk-shaped, 121 
ivory, 219 
jet, 121, 126, 214 
shale, 211, 213, 214 
stone, 15, 119, 220, 224, 226 
tooth, 121, 215, 220 
Bear Clan, 178 
Bear Crest, claimed by Teqv*edi, 144 


INDEX 


Bear Den House, Wuckitan sib, 179 
(map), 187 
Bear House, leading Teq*edi house, 41, 
55, 144, 177, 178, 179 (map), 181, 
187, 189 
Beardslee, L. A., chart by, 50, 68, 147 
information from, 61, 98, 152, 153, 
154, 159, 160, 161, 162, 164, 182, 
183, 201 
Bears, 29, 91, 94, 97, 114, 170, 213, 215, 
216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 226 
American black (Huroactos amert- 
canus americans), 41, 93 
bones of, 117, 120, 217 
brown grizzly, 25, 93 
carving of, 187-188 
claws, use of, 119 
myths about, 57, 131, 133, 144 
sib, 144 
teeth worn as amulets, 119 
teeth worn as beads, 121, 220 
Beaver, 29, 39, 41, 47, 94, 97, 114, 137, 
213, 215, 217, 219, 221, 222, 223, 
225, 226, 229 
Admiralty (Castor canadensis 
phoeus), 93 
legends of, 62, 132, 133, 136-137, 
183 
Bell, Archie, chief of Keet—hit, 178, 180, 


, 192 
Bell, Billy, former chief of Killer Whale 
Tooth House, 184, 191 
Bell, Frank, second husband of Mrs. 
Mary Bell, 191 
Bell, Jack, son of Billy Bell, 184, 191 
Bell, Mrs. Mary, Mother of Jimmy 
George, 191 
Benson, Dr. Seth B., animals identified 
by, 93 
Berries, bushes in garden, 96 
gathering rights, 69 
patches, remains of garden, 64, 82, 89 
seeds, deposits of, 91 
See also Blueberries. 
Berry, M. P., information from, 160 
Bibliography, 207—209 
“Big Man,” see Paul, John. 
Birds, shore, 93 
Birket-Smith, Kaj, 18 
quotations from, 6, 206 
“Black face,” significance of, 77, 102 
Black paint, from Kootznahoo Head, 36 
“Black Skin,’”’ legendary hero, 77, 111 
Blades, iron, 113 
leaf-shaped, 108 
slate, 33, 45, 109-110, 123, 210 
unfinished, 107 
Blankets, 153, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 
168, 172, 183 
bearskins, 41 
Chilkat, 15, 155, 182, 188 
decorated, 72 
neon of exchange, 163, 164, 165, 
6 
Blood, used for paint, 49, 58, 72, 104 


237 


Blueberries, 29 
See also Berries. 
Bluejays, 114 
Boas, Franz, information from, 21, 23, 
101, 183 
Boat, row, 40 
Bodkin, bone, 212 
Boues, animal, 54, 118 
animal, found in pit, 33, 62, 82, 84, 
88, 90, 97, 113, 118-119 
bird, 82, 90, 119, 121, 213, 216, 218, 
219, 223, 230 
carved, 34, 45, 122 
deer, use of, 30, 67, 113, 118 
fish, 82, 90, 97 
human, decomposed, 67 
sea lion, 118, 122 
seals, used for divining, 94 
worked, 118-119, 126, 210, 211, 212, 
214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 
22h; 222, 223, 226, 227, 229, 230, 
Borden, Charles E., quotations from, 6 


| Bottle, green glass, 127, 227 


Boulders, 57, 100, 101, 102 
carvings on, 48 
sacrificial, 48 
chips, 110, 214, 219, 220, 225, 226 
Bowl, sandstone, 103, 104, 213 
yellow-brown shale, 103 
Bows and arrows, 114, 136 
| Bowstrings, 114 
|‘*Box Mountain,’”? Angoon area, 52 
Boxes, storage, 30 
Bracelets, gold, 137 
Brown, Jimmy, owner of Bear Den 
House, 187 
Brown, Tom G., chief of Bear House, 


? 
“Brown Bear People,” Angoon sib, 27 
Buccinum sp., 91 
Buckle, carved ivory, 47 
Buddington, A. F., information from, 31 
Buildings, recent, 55 
Bunchberry leaf, deer call made of, 114 


Cabin Point, Hood Bay, 51, 53 
Cabins, 37, 39, 44, 54 (map), 95 (map) 
summer, 45, 53, 54 (map) 

Cache pits, 35, 55, 56 (map), 57 

Ca-iy-Ak*, native name for “Ladies 
Pass,” 41 

Campsites, 44, 54, 55, 59 

Canadians, French, 140 

Canaqgdts, native name for mountain 
near Chaik Bay, 55 

Canis lupus ligoni, 93 

Cannery, Foes Bay, 


Murder Cove, 59 
Cannery barges, 199 
Cannery tenders, 199 
Cannon ball, broken, found in pit, 57, 
127, 158, 170, 231 


operation of, 


238 


Canoe race, sport, 40 
Canoes, 58, 111, 112, 116, 132, 142, 151, 
154, 165, 172° 
destroy ed 
Guard, 161, 164, 168, 170 
landing place, 48, 100 
log, 30, 32, 131 
painted, 186 
red cedar, 15, 135 
war, 149, 151, 152, 186 
wood for, 41 
Cape abba Kodiak Island, petroglyphs 
at, 
Cape Edgecumbe, 147 
C4q*La, native name for mountain near 
Tenakee, 61 
Cardium corbis, 91 
‘““Carved-Stone Town,” Teq”edi settle- 
ment, 68 
Carvings, bone, 119, 122 
on sacrificial boulder, 48 
wood, native, 73 
wood, of historic times, 35 
Cassiar miners, effect on natives, 159 
Castor canadensis phoeus, 93 
Causeway, Daxatkanada Island, 80 
(map), 81 
Cedar, 29 
red, 102, 116 
bark of, "used for paint, 104 
Celt, 33 
Cemeteries, location of, 30, 48 
Census data, 176 
Ceratocotitus diceraus, 92 
Chaik Bay, Admiralty Island, 10, 24 
(map), 32, 53, 54 (map Ne 55, 59, 
69, 70, 71, 131, 132, 139, 178, 174, 
181, 231 
Channel Point Island, vicinity of 
Angoon, 37 (map), 38, 44-45, 79, 
80 (map), 81, 151, 165, 188 
Chapin ae Admiralty Island, 23, 24 


, 09 
Charecall “45, 53, 64, 66, 67, 82, 84, 89, 
90, 96 


? 
Chatham Cannery, Sitkoh Bay, site 
near, 65 (map), 71 
Chatham Strait, between Angoon and 
Killisnoo, 48-49, 100, 136, 183 
southeast Alaska, 23, 24 (map), 25, 
36, 37 (map), ’39, "AT, 48-49, 58, 
61, WA, fay loze 133, 148, 166, ies 
174, 130, 196, 200 
Chert, 100, 101, 102, 110, 214, 216, 218, 
219, 220, 223, 225, 226. 
green, 110 
Chichagof Island, Angoon territory, 23, 
24 (map), ’35, 60, 64, 148 
fishing stations at, 10, 24 (map), 61 
Chilkat area, ix, 68, 144, 147, 167 
Chilkat-Chilkoot Indians, ix 
Chilkat tribes, 28, 72, 116, 123, 137, 162, 
164, 168, 203 
Chilkoot Lake, 138 
China, fragments of, 45, 62 
Chinook, 140 


BUREAU. OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 


(Bull. 172 


Chisel, beaver tooth, 118 
slate, 33, 107 
See also Tools. 


in reprisal by Coast} Chitons, common, 210, 211, 212, 213, 


214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 220, 221, 
222 224, 226, 223° 
giant (Katharina truncata), 91, 92, 
210, 216, 221, 228 
Choppers, 110 
Chugash Eskimo, 18, 22, 127 
Chugash Eskimo territory, 6, 18 
Ci-xyani, native name for settlement of 
Chaik Bay, 55 
Clams, 91 
Kennerley’ s Venus, 220 
Macoma, 212, 217, 218, 221, 223 
burrowing (Sacicava pholadus), 92 
Pacific gaper, 211, 214, 218, 220, 
222, 224 
Pacific little-neck (Protothaca stami- 
nea), 91, 213, 214, 215, 218, 220, 
221, 223, 224, 225 
smooth Washington (Saxidomus 
giganteus), 91, 210, 211, 212, 213, 
214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 
221) 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 
228, 229° 
truncate soft-shell, 226 
Clamshells, 53, 96, 210 
implements of, 110 
Clay, potters, 103 
used for making paint, 58, 127 
Claystone, sandy, 103, 106, 125, 127 
Clear Spring House, "Decitan sib, 179 
(map), 182-185, 188, 193 
Clinocardiwm nuttali, 91 
Cloak, worn at dances, 186 
Clubs, fish, 116 
picklike, 114 
used for seal hunting, 111, 112 
war, 223 
Coal, cannel, 121, 216 
Coal’ beds, soft, 121 
Coal mine, located on Mitchell Bay, 44 
located at Sullivan Point, 45 
Coast Guard, Angoon destroyed by, 170 
See also "Angoon, destruction of. 
Coast Salish area, 5, 6 
Cobbles, shale, 107 
Cockle shells, found in pit, 33 
Cockles, 46, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 
216, ’217, "218, "220, 221, 222) 223, 
224, 225, 226, 223° 
(Cardium corbis) » ot 
Cod, 116 
rock, 97 
Cohoe fish, 43, 44 
““Cohoe Salmon Village,” native name 
for Channel Point, 44 
Cold Spring House, 176 
Cold Storage Plant, purchase of, 199 
Collins, Lloyd R., x, 11 
Community Association, 198 
Community Charter, opposition to, 198 
Community Hall, Chatham Strait, 196 


INDEX 


Cook Inlet, 82 
“Copper,” petrcelyeh, 75, 76 (fig.), 77, 
? ? 
trade in, 6, 126 
ornaments, 119 
Copper River, 206 
Cork, used on fishing lines, 116 
Corlies, Dr. W. H. R., missionary, 152, 
153, 154 
Cormorants, 38 
Corporate Charter and Constitution, 
quotations from, 26 
Corwin, commanded by Lt. M. A. Healy, 
163, 164, 165, 166, 168 
Courts, powers of, 198 
Coyotes, 170 
“‘Crabapple Fort,” Point Hays, 63 
“Crabapple Tide,” native name for a 
channel, 44 
Crane, myth about, 50, 130 
Creation, story of, 130-131 
Cremation, practice of, 28 
“Creoles” (Russian halfbreeds), 161 
Crittenden, Colonel, Deputy Collector 
of Customs, 153 
Cross Sound, Alaska, 23, 24 (map), 31 
Crow clan, 40 
Crow Island, 69 
Crows, 174 
““Crow’s Fort,’”’ Point Hays, 63 
“Crow’s Little Fort,’’ native name for 
Table Island, 51 
Cryptochiton stelleri, 91 
Crystalline rock, 102 
Ctin, slave sacrificed at Steel House, 181 
Cup, claystone, 103, 217 
sandstone, 103, 210, 211, 214 
toy sandstone, 214 
Cuwika, John, 187 
Cygnus columbianus, 93 


Dagger, antler, 227 
bone, 115, 216 
See also Knife, hunting. 
Daktlawedi, Angoon sib, 25 
Danger Point, Angoon Peninsula, 25, 36, 
37 (map), 38, 48, 102, 151 
Dagqatckik, traditional title of chief of 
“Log Jam House,”’ 185, 186 
Daq!’awedi, “‘ Killer Whale People,” 27, 
28, 36, 50, 51, 52, 53, 55, 59, 138, 
139, 140, 142, 176, 177 (list), 179 
(map), 180, 181, 184, 191, 204 
migrations of, 139-140, 142 
origin of, 137—140 
village of, 22 
Daqkawee chief, reincarnated shaman, 
Pe | 
i (Eagle-Wolf) sib, rights of, 


Daq!’awedi Houses, 189-192 

Darts, 114 

Da’utuwaxiq’an, ‘People 
built-up shelter,”’ 60 
460927—60——17 


of the 


239 


Davis, Andrew, information from, 177, 
184, 187 
Andrew, songs from, 136 
Davis, Charley, 187 
Davis, George, chief of Steel House, 182 
Davis, John, married to daughter of 
John Shuwika, 186, 187 
Davis Creek, Mitchell Bay, 43 
Dawt’! hini, native name for “‘ Battle 
Creek,’ 68 
Daxétkanada, native name for ‘‘ Where 
the tide passes back and forth,” 
79, 152 
Daxatkanada Island, archeological sites 
at, 79, 80 (map)-81, 97, 99, 103, 
105, 108, 113, 118, 121, 122, 124 
(figs.), 125, 148, 210-229 (tables) 
fort on Kootznahoo Inlet, 10, 
11, 37 (map), 39, 81, 95, 151 
saddle, 87 (fig.), 88 (map), 89, 109 
shelf, 80 (map), 82, 83 (map), 85 
(map)—86 
siege of, native versions, 150-152 
vicinity of Angoon, 33, 44, 70, 80 
(map), 81, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101, 
_ 102, 112, 115, 123, 148, 150 
Daxcu-’an, native name for “Village 
close to the backside,” 45 
Day-shu-hit, end of a street house, 178 
Day-she-tarn, main symbol Raven, 177 
Dead Raven, chief of Raven House, 180 
Dead Tree Island, Hanus Bay, 68 
Deadfalls, 114 
Decitan, 38, 39, 40, 41, 44, 45, 46, 47, 
50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 59, 60, 
61, 64, 69, 75, 81, 132, 133, 134, 
135, 144, 148, 151, 152, 177, 180, 
182, 183, 184, 186, 187, 191, 192, 
193, 203, 204 
graveyard, 35, 44, 46 
houses, 180-185 
lineages, 27, 35, 38, 176 (list), 179 
separation from Ganaxadi, 133-135, 
138, 178, 206 
village, remains of, 45 
wars of, 149-154 
Decitan and Anxakhitan, fights with 
Sitka Kiksadi, 149-150 
Decitan (Raven) sibs, rights of, 69-70 
Decitan Steel House, 43, 55, 154, 161, 
166, 185 
Dé’cu hit, house at end of road, 177, 183 
Deepwater, Frederick Sound, 24 (map), 
0, 
Deer, 29, 30, 44, 94, 97, 114, 170, 171, 
212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 
219, 220, 221, 223, 226, 228 
Sitka black-tailed (Odocoileus sit- 
kensis), 93 
Deer call, made of bunchberry leaf, 114 
Deerskins, trade in, 175 
Deer tallow, lamp fuel, 103 
De Groff, Edward, in charge of trading 
post, 162 


240 


de Laguna, Frederica, 10, 11, 12, 29, 79, 
128, 157, 158, 200 
“‘Deluge”’ tradition, 129 
Dennis, Isaac C., deputy collector, 159 
Dentalia, 119, 142 
trade in, 7 
Deshuhittan, Angoon sib, 25 
Pesling. ie Leroy E., plants identified 


Ys 

Devilclub, beliefs regarding, 29 

buried with shaman, 63 
Devilfish, 29, 116 

petroglyphs, 76 (fig.), 78 

used for bait, 29, 116 
Dick, Andrew, 184 
Dick, Peter, brother of Andrew, 184 
Diesel motor, electricity supplied by, 196 
Dishes, stone, 103 

toy, 44, 46, 103, 127 
Disks, marble, 214 

stone, 122, 123, 214, 215 
Diigux, patie name for Redbluff Bay, 


Doctors, see Shamans. 
Dogs, 213, 214, 217, 218, 221 
hunting, 30, 94, 114 
myths about, 131 
native, 91, 94 ? 
“Dog Salmon House,” ’Anxakhitan 
house, 136, 176, 178, 185 
“Dog Salmon People,’’ Angoon sib, 27, 
132, 144 
“Dog Salmon Stream,” at head of 
Whitewater Bay, 55-56 
Dogwinkle, 213 
channeled, 214, 216, 217, 219, 220, 
225, 226 
file, 214, 216, 225 
frilled, 211, 213, 217, 220, 222, 223, 
4 


Dolis, 107 
pebbles used as, 109 
Douglas, mining town, 162 
Douglas Island, Alaska, 24 (map), 175 
Drills, bone, 118, 215 
mechanical, 113 
Drinking tube (?), 126 
Drowning, common cause of death, 28 
native beliefs regarding, 28 
Drucker, Philip, quotations from, 6, 123 
Drunkenness, common cause of acci- 
dents, 28 
Ducks, 93 
Dugouts, see Canoes, red cedar. 
Dwarfs, beliefs about, 60 
Dwellings, bark, 30 
Dyes, vegetable, 30 


Eagle, gale (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), 


Eagle clan, 178 

Eagle (or Wolf) moiety, “Brown Bear 
People,” 27, 40, 46 

Eagle claws, 97, 142 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 


(Bull. 172 


“Hagle Eating (human beings) Small 
Channel,”’ 149 

“‘Hagle-?-Fort,’”’ native name for fort on 
Chaik Bay, 53, 54 (map) 

Eagle Island, Whitewater Bay, 58, 75 

“‘EKagle’s Fort,” on Graveyard Point, 48 

Eagle wings, used as brooms, 34 

a cee moiety, 153, 176, 177 (list), 


Ear wax, used in firemaking, 102 

Earrings, 119 

Edge-Around House, ’Anakhixtan sib, 
179 (map), 185 

““Edge-on Bay,” native name for Favor- 
ite Bay, 46 

Educational activities, effect on native 
culture, 7 

Elder, red-berried (Sambucus callicar- 


pa), 91 
Elderberries, 29, 66 
preserves of, 91 
seeds of, 219, 223 
Electric-light plants, Angoon, 196 
Eliza Harbor, Admiralty Island, 10, 24 
(map), 59-60, 70, 132, 137, 138, 
139, 204 
Emmons, G. T., information from, 69, 
72, 75, 77, 78, 79, 148, 176, 181, 
183, 184, 185, 187, 189, 191, 205 
“Bnd of the (Beaver) Trail House,’ 
native name for the Decitan 
people, 132, 150 
“End of Village House,”’ Decitan House, 
176, 177, 179, 184, 185 
Enemies, decapitation of, 156-157 
Enhydra lutris lutris, 93 
Enophrys bison, 92 
Epidemics, occurrence of, 28, 206 
Erman, information from, 200 
Eskimo, Pacific, 6, 16, 34, 112 
Ethnographer, methods used by, 12 
Ethnological data, character of, 15-16 
Ethnologist, problems of, 2 
Etolin Island, 72, 77, 79 
Eumetopias jubata, 93 
Euroactos americanus americanus, 93 
European wearing apparel, value of, 173 
Excursion Inlet, Alaska, 24 (map), 142, 
143, 150 
pee. conclusions drawn from, 


EKyak Indians, 6, 126, 206 

Faces, pictures of, 79 

False Bay, Angoon territory, 23, 24 
(map), 35, 60, 70, 142 

“Far-away Killer Whale,” Daq!’awedi 
chief, 55, 139 

Father Sorgon of Sitka, organizer of 
Greek Orthodox choir, 193 

Favorite, trading company’s tugboat, 
164, 165, 166, 168 

Favorite Bay, vicinity of Angoon, 37 
(map), 38, 45, 46, 103, 168, 171 

Hodere) Jonas, effects on natives, 198, 


“Female Grouse Fort,” 142 


INDEX 


Fieldwork, conduct of, 8-15 

among Tlingit, purpose of, 4-8 
Filipinos, employed at cannery, 199 
Fir, 29 
Firearms, possessed by natives, 159 
Firedrill, strap, 102 
Fire hearth, 103 

red cedar, 102 
Firemaking devices, 102 
Fish, 92 

racks for cooking, 86 
Fish camp, Hanus Bay, 68 
Fish cannery, natives work for, 10 
Fishery Creek, Admiralty Island, 24 


(map), 35 

Fishery Point, Admiralty Island, 24 
(map), 35, 69, 70 

Fishing gear, 115-117 

Fishing industry, effect on native cul- 
ture, 7, 9 

Fishing lines, kelp, 29 

Fishing rights, 69 

Fishing Village, vicinity of Angoon, 37 
(map), 46 

Flakes and cores, 110-111 

Flicker House, 176 

Floats, sealskin, 29 

Flood, Great, myths about, 19, 21, 22, 
29, 52, 55, 57, 61, 129, 130-131 
138, 139 

Floor, gravel, 50, 54 

Florence Creek, 35 

Follett, Dr. W. L., 
by, 92 

Food supply, 175 

“Fort House,” in Angoon, 97, 142, 143, 
157, 158, 177, 179 (map), 186, 193 


fishes identified 


“Fort of the lower end of the point,’ 
native name for fort at Danger 
Point, 48 

“Fort of the Women of Ganax,” 178, 
179 (map) 

“Fort on Top House,” 142, 187 


Forts, 31, 34, 48, 50, 51, 60, 97-98 
destroyed in reprisal for murders, 
161 


Frank, Charley, chief of Fort House, 186 

Fraser River, 205 

Fred, John, chief of Eagle Clan, 178, 186 

Freed, J. Arthur, animals identified 
by, 93 

Frederick Sound, Alaska, 23, 24 (map), 


p] 
Freshwater Bay, Chichagof Island, 24 
(map), 60, 142, 143, 150, 203 
brah of Angoon sib, 27, 35, 60, 
18 
Front, or High House, see Packed Solid 
House. 
Fruit, gathered by women and children, 


Fungus, used for paint, 104 

Funter Bay, Admiralty Island, 23, 24 
(map), 142 

Fur bearers, 29 


241 


Fur trade, effect on native culture, 


Gaff hooks, barbs for, 117, 211, 225 
fish, wooden, 116 
used for devilfish, 116 
Gambier Bay, Admiralty Island, 24 
(map) 
Gamble, George, former chief of Raven 
House, 180, 181 
Games, basketball, played by natives, 
194, 196 
hockey, 134 
Ganaxadi, separated from Decitans, 39, 
47, 64, 65, 70, 75, 78, 131, 132, 
133-135, 138, 178, 180, 204 
Ganaxadi village site, 75 
Ganaxea nuwu, ‘“Ganax 
Fort,” 47, 134, 178 
Ganax Island, 131, 132 
“Ganax Women’s Fort,’’ in Angoon, 
101, 126, 133, 231 
Soar aea (Schizotheraeus nuttalz), 


Gardens, cultivated, 172, 174, 175 
remains of, 38, 44, 45, 47, 50, 54 

ay 56, 80 (map), 81, 89, 95 
map), 

Garfield, Dr. Viola, information from, 
17, 23, 26, 52, 55, 59, 61, 68, 69, 
75, 129, 132, 133, 135, 136, 137, 
138, 142, 143, 144, 148, 178, 181, 
182, 183, 184, 187, 191, 204 

Garnes, Elmer, and wife, occupants of 
Garnes Point, 46 

Garnes Point, vicinity of Angoon, 37 
(map), 38, 45, 46, 50, 103, 171 

Gavia immer, 93 

Genealogies, records of succession, 192 

George, Albert, father of Jimmy George, 
191 


Woinen’s 


George, Jimmie, chief of Keet-hit, 178, 
19 


191 

George, W. E., coast pilot on steamer 
California, 152 

George, William, chief of Ahn-khark-hit, 
178, 185, 193 

George, Willis, 189 

Gexet‘u-’an, ‘Inside-the-mouth-of-the- 
bay Village,” 39 

Giq"edi, ‘Kelp People,” 59, 132 

Gifford, Dr. Edward W., shells identified 
by, 91 

Girls, adolescent, scratching stones used 

, 123, 126 

Glacier Bay, 130, 150 

Glass, found in pit, 62, 99 

Glass Peninsula, Admiralty Island, 24 


(map 

Gneiss, 100, 101 

Gold, discovery of, 162 

Goldschmidt, Walter R., and Haas, 
Theodore H., information from, 
23, 35, 41, 46, 51, 53, 54, 55, 58, 
59, 60, 64, 67, 68, 69 

| Goon-hit, clear spring water house, 177 


242 


Grape, wild (Vitis sp.), 90 

Grass, salt, 29 

Gravel, 56, 66 

Graves, shaman’s, 30, 36, 49, 63 

Graveyard, Decitan, 35, 44, 46, 48 

Graveyard Point, vicinity of Angoon, 

37 (map), 131 

Greek Orthodox Church, 182, 193, 194 
choir, native members of, 193 

Greek ee Mission School, Sitka, 


Greengo, Robert E., shells identified 
1 


NY; 
Greenstone, adzes made from, 69, 100, 
101 


Greenstone pebbles, 108 

Grouse Fort, Alaska, 24 (map), 142, 143 
(map), 153, 187, 203, 205 

“Guano,” 88, 90, 162, 174, 175 

Gulf of Alaska, 27, 206 

Gulls, 38, 114 

Gunana Indians, see Athabaskans. 

Gin hit, spring house, 177, 182 

Guns, 152 

Gunther, Dr. Erna, information from, 77 

Gut Bay, Baranof Island, 23, 24 (map), 
58, 69, 196 


Haida country, 142 
Haida Indians, 6, 15, 27, 135, 144, 182, 

204, 205, 206 
eae built by, 15, 149, 173, 186, 


Haines, Alaska, 134, 138, 139 

Hairpins, carved bone, 63 

Haliaeetus leucocephalus, 92 

Halibut f ea stenolepis), 92, 97, 
1 


fishing methods, 29, 116 
Halibut Fort, Point Hayes, 148 
“Habilbut Meat,’ native name for 
white rocks opposite Killisnoo 
Island, 49 
ecaaagi Place Fort,” Point Hayes, 64, 
149 


Halleck Island, 24 (map), 149 
Hamilton Bay, ruins on, 98 
Hammers, hand, 231. See also Pestles. 
Hammerstones, 109, 212, 214, 217, 219, 
226, 227, 228, 230 
strike-a-lights, firestones, 102 
Handles, wooden, 109, 222, 229 
Hanus Bay, Peril Strait, 49, 68-69, 147 
Haplotrema vancouverensis, 92 
Harpoon heads, barbed, 50, 53, 54, 90, 
11.1,, 112-143, 111% (219 0918 5216. 
217, 218, 219, 222, 225, 226, 227, 
230, 231 
bone, 112, 113 
deer bone, 30 
iron, 112, 126 
stone, 15, 33 
toggle, 111, 112, 210, 212, 230 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 


[Bull. 172 


Harpoon heads—Continued 
unfinished, 216 
whale bone, 33, 111 
wooden, 113 
Harpoons, 111, 112, 116 
fish, 116 
metal, 111 
Hart, Augustus, 184 
Hasselborg, Allen, information from, 32, 


’ 
Hasselborg Creek, 41 
Hatchets, used in fight, 153 
Hats, crest, 72 
wooden, 48 
Hawk Inlet, Admiralty Island, 24 
(map), 35, 142 
Head Island, Whitewater Bay, 57, 71 
Healy, Captain M. A., 165, 166 
letter from, 163 
Hearths, 90 
Heizer, Robert H., information from, 
79, 128 
Helmet, wooden, 102 
Hematite, 102 
red, 105, 230 
used for paint, 73, 104 
Hemlock, 29, 90, 185 
mountain (Tsuga mertensiana), 90 
western (T'suga heterophylla), 90 
‘“‘Hemlock People,” see Yenyé di. 
Herring, 46, 162, 168, 171 
fishing methods, 28, 116 
grease, making of, 58 
oil, 162, 174, 175 
Herring Bay, Admiralty 
(map), 59, 70 
Herring plant, Killisnoo, 197 
Hiatella arctica, 92 
High Class People’s House, Wuckitan 
house, 187 
High Water Island, 151 
Hilton, James, chief of Khook-hit, 178, 
184 


Island, 24 


Hippoglossus stenolepis, 92 
History, prehistoric, 128-157 
recent, 158-200 
Tlingit, conclusions from, 200—206 
History and geography, Tlingit concep- 
tion of, 16-23 
Hobson, George, son of Pete Hobson, 
185 


Hobson, Pete, 184, 185 

Hobson, William, founder of Alaska 
Native Brotherhood, 194 

Hockey, see Games. 

Hoggett Bay Baranof Island, 24 (map), 


Holmes A’Court, Captain H., command- 
er of H.M.S. Osprey, 162 
““Hoochenoo,’”’ native rum, 159, 161, 167 

Hoochinoo tribe, 175, 176 
Homosexuality, practice of, 155 


INDEX 


Hood Bay, Admiralty Island, 24 (map), 
36, 50, 51-53, 58, 69, 70, 71, 131, 
137, 139, 140, 141, 171, 191, 199, 
200, 203, 204 
fish cannery at, 10, 11, 19, 24 (map), 
51, 52, 198-199, 200 
logging camp at, 52 
Hood Bay Fort, 53, 99, 113, 231 
excavation at, 11, 33, 115, 122 
““Hood Bay Old Woman,” native name 
for mountain near Hood Bay, 52 
‘‘Hood Bay People,” see Tsag¥edi. 
Hood Bay shaman, story of, 140-141 
Hook and line, 116 
Hooks, fish, 116, 145 
Hoonah, Alaska, 24 (map), 26, 35, 79, 
142, 150, 193, 194, 206 
Hoonah tribes, ix, 25, 28, 61, 95, 143, 148 
Hoosnoff, assistance asked from, 146, 
147 


Hostages, function of, 149, 151, 154, 155, 
171 


“House between the Mountains,” 188 

House fronts, painted, 73 

“House in Middle of the Town,” 
?Anxakhitan House, 176, 177 

House on Top of the Fort, originally 
Wuckitan, 179 (map), 187 

House pits, 34, 50, 56, 57, 66-67, 142, 
203 


House Point, Hood Bay, 51 
House posts, carved, 187 
Houses, 39, 47, 55, 56 (map), 57, 95 
(map), 174 
ancient, 178, 179 (map)—180 
bark, 81, 89 
guest, 153 
plank, 30, 98, 174 
plank, replaced by framehouse, 15 
Angoon sibs rights to build, 69 
“House Standing Sidewise,’’ Decitan 
House, 176, 183 
Hudson’s Bay Company, trade goods 
from, 127 
Human remains, cremated, 86 
Humilaria kennerlyi, 91 
“Humpbacked Salmon’s Stream,’ na- 
tive name for stream near 
Basket Bay, 62 (map), 63 
Humus, 53, 56, 64, 66, 67, 82, 84, 88, 
89, 90, 96 
Hunter, John, chief of Ahn-khark-hit, 
178, 185 
Hunters, sea mammal, 68 
Hunting and fishing devices, 16 
Hunting camp, 69 
Hunting rights, 69 
Hutsnuwu, see Angoon people. 
Hydaberg, Alaska, 134, 137, 142 


Icy Strait, Alaska, 23, 24 (map), 31, 
142, 143 (map), 1538, 187, 203 

Iten, native name for Steamer Passage, 
38 


243 


Implements, clamshell, 110, 211 
heavy stone, 99-102 
iron, 221 
shell, 110 
Incisor, human, charred, 212 
Indian Bureau, 173, 174 
Indian Reorganization Act, amendment 
to, 197 
effects of, 8, 10, 198 
Indians, threats by, 163, 164 
Informants, cooperation of, 14 
information derived from, 18, 19, 
21-22, 25, 27, 30, 35, 38, 39, 40, 
42, 43, 44, 47, 48, 49, 52, 55, 57, 
58, 59, 60, 64, 66, 68, 69, 
72, 77, 81, 82, 84, 104, 108, 109, 
T11, 117; 199,180) 1315 133, 134, 
136, 138, 142, 148, 144, 150, 151, 
154, 155, 168-172, 181, 183, 184, 
186, 187, 192, 198, 199, 203, 205 
Inheritance, customs regarding, 192 
Inlays, stone, 119 
“Inside-the-mouth-of-the-bay Village,” 


39 
Iron, 126-127 
fragments, found in pits, 57, 99 
from driftwood, 127 
working of, 127 
Irving, William, ix, 10 


Jack, Eddy, 188 

Jack, Frank, brother of Eddy, 188, 189 

Jackson, James, 189 

Jade, green, 101 

James, Paul, 184 

James, Peter, maternal grandfather of 
Jimmy George’s second wife, 192 

Jamestown, Moses, chief of Yen-khoon- 
hit, 178, 185, 186 

Jamestown, Robert, married to John 
Nelson’s daughter, 191 

Jamestown, U.8.8., commanded by Cap- 
tain Beardslee, 161, 166, 185 

Jingles, false, 222 

John, Charlie, chief of Day-shu-hit, 178, 
184 


Johnny Jack, son of Little Jack, 182, 188 

Johnson, Billy, chief of Raven Bones 
House, 181 

Johnson, George, chief of Yeatle-hit, 
177, 180, 188 

Johnson, James, of Klawak, 194 

Johnson, Jimmy, present chief of Raven 
Bones House, 181, 182 

Johnson, Pete, chief of Yeatke-socky- 
hit, 177, 181 

Johnson, Peter J., son of Robert John- 
son, 184 

Johnson, Robert, father of Peter J., 184 

Johnson, Samuel, chief of Raven House, 


180, 181, 188 
Johnson, Shorty, chief of Bear House, 
188, 193 


244 


Jones, Billy, noted orator, 181, 189 

Jones, Livingston F., information from, 
103, 127 

Juneau, Alaska, 23, 24 (map), 26, 27, 35, 
41, 60, 75, 185, 186, 143, 156, 162, 
175, 181, 206 

Justice, Indians conception of, 159-160 


BUREAU OF 


Kachemak Bay, sites at, 128 

Kagwantan, ‘‘People of the Burned 
Down House,’’ 27, 46, 142, 144, 
148, 153, 154, 156, 161, 171, 181, 
183, 187, 193, 204 

murder of Wuckitan at Sitka by, 

157-158 

Kahklen, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph, help 
from, 10, 11, 40, 43 

Kake, sites at, 24 (map) 

Kake forts, 98 

Kake territory, 52, 94, 98, 134, 135, 137, 
138, 142, 193, 194 

Kake tribes, 25, 59, 60, 69, 94, 98, 160 

Kake villages, destruction of, 59, 98, 182 

Kauian, chief of the Kisadi, 161, 202 

adversary of Baranof, 202 

Kalinin Bay, Salisbury Sound, 67 

Kanalku Bay, Mitchell Bay, 38, 43-44, 
71, 103, 183 

Kanalq’, title of chief of Packed Solid 
House, 183 

Kanash, Peter, 189, 191 

Kar-kowt-hit, named for curved rock at 
Basket Bay, 178 

Kasaan, Alaska, 135, 186, 144, 149, 185 

Kasq!ague’di, 129 

Kataq*, native name for Wilson Cove, 


Kataq¥edi, people from Wilson Cove, 59 

Katharina truncata, 91 

Katinuk, Eli, founder of Alaska Native 
Brotherhoed, 194 

Katishan, chief of the Kasq!ague’df, 129 

“Katlaan,” see Katian. 

Kats, sib hero, 187, 188 

K‘atshsak¥, native name for cove on 
Gaines Point, 46, 50 

Keet-hit, Killer Whale 
house, 178 

Keithahn, E. L., information from, 72, 
79 


(Thrasher) 


7 

Kelp Bay, Baranof Island, 24 (map), 69 

“Kelp People,” 59, 132, 204 

Kenasnow Island, 174 

Kenasnow Rapids, Kootznahoo Iniet, 
164 

Kenasnow Rocks, vicinity of Angoon, 
37 (map), 48, 49 

KennelKu, Joe, chief of Da-she-ton 
family of Hootz-ah-tar tribe, 183 

Ketchikan, 132, 133, 134, 144 

Khook-hit, big hole in the ground, 178 

Kidji’k hit, Tongas_ division of 
Ganaxadi sib, 180 


AMERICAN 


ETHNOLOGY (Bull. 172 


Kiksadi, native tribe, 64, 68, 146, 148, 
149, 153, 156, 157, 161, 203 

Killer Whale, legends of, 138 
painting, obliteration of, 189, 195 
pictograph of, 74 (fig.), 75 
supernatural being, 72 

“Killer Whale Canoe,”’ 186 

“Killer Whale Chasing Seal House,’’ 190 


(fig.), 191 

“Killer Whale House,’ 137, 138, 140, 
177 (list), 179 (map), 180, 181, 
187, 189, 190 (figs.), 191, 192, 


193, 195 
“Killer yee People,’”’ Angoon sib, 27, 
1 


“Killer Whale Tooth House,” 179 (map), 
184, 191 
Killisnoo, Angoon town, 25, 37 (map), 
50, 128, 133, 136, 152, 153, 154, 
162, 163, 165, 172, 175, 182, 185, 
193, 194, 196, 197, 231 
destroyed by fire, 196 
herring plant at, 197 
history of, 174-176, 196 
Killisnoo Harbor, vicinity of Angoon, 
37 (map), 39, 49, 69, 70, 125, 
141, 165, 169, 171 
Killisnoo Island, famous for potatoes, 50 
herring plant at, 168, 174 
vicinity of Angoon, 37 (map), 46, 
ee 132, 162, 167, 172, 178, 
1 
whaling station on, 50, 162, 168, 
174, 175 
Killisnoo Jake, see Kitchnath. 
Killisnoo Packing Company, 197 
Kitchnath, Decitan chief, 154, 161, 175. 
182, 185 
Kitenal, Decitan chief, 135, 136, 182 
Kit hft, Killer Whale House, 177, 189 
Kitqvan, ‘‘ Killer Whale People,” 27 
Klawak, Alaska, 130, 134, 137, 138, 194 
Klukwan, Chilkat village, ix, 72 
Klushkan, George, chief of Mountain 
House, 178, 188, 193 
Knipe, Laura, drawings by, 122 
Knives, butcher, 109 
hunting, 102, 109, 114 
mussel-shell, 29, 106, 110, 230 
pocket, 109 
schist fragment, 227 
shale, 110 
slate, 33, 106, 107, 110, 228, 231 
steel, 118 
stone, 109 
two-bladed, 109 
Knives and scrapers, 109-110 
Kodiak Island, 79, 128, 205 
Kook Lake, Basket Bay, 61 
Kootz-hit, Bear House, 178 
Kootznahoo Head, 36, 37 (map), 38, 50, 
69, 141, 151, 173 
cave under 22, 36 
Kootznahoo Indians, ix, 60 


INDEX 


Kootznahoo Inlet, 24 (map), 25, 35, 
36-47, 50, 64, 68, 69, 94, 102, 132, 
135, 148, 165, 168, 170 

fort on, 10, 11, 24 (map), 48, 50, 70, 

71, 163, 164, 165, 183, 185, 206 

Kootznahoo Store, property of Walter 
Sobolof, 154, 197 

Krause, Aurel, information from, 30, 
176, 200 

Kroeber, A. L., quotations from, 6, 205, 
206 


Kruzof Island, 24 (map), 68, 140 

Kuiu Island, 23, 24 (map), 132, 143, 161, 
176 

Kukash, Albert, chief of Mountain 
House, 178, 188, 189 

Kupreanof Island group, 23, 24 (map), 
98 


Kutixé.n, native name for ‘“Carved- 
Stone Town,” 68 


? 

Kix" nuwu, native name for Marten’s 
Fort, 53 

‘“Kwakiutl,’’ Kagwantan chief, 142 

Kwakiutl-Bella Coola area, 6 

Kwakiutl Indians, 6, 153 


Labrets, 119-120, 121-122 
bone, 120 
red shale, 53, 122 
soapstone, 121 
stone, 15, 39, 96, 120, 215, 227, 231 
wooden, 120 
“Ladies Pass,’ 41 
Lake Eva, Peril Strait, 68 
Lamp, kelp stalk, 104 
stone, 104, 213 
tin can, 103 
See also bowl. 
Lamp oil, deer or seal, 103 
Lamp wick, rag, 103, 104 
Langley, American schooner lost 
Chatham Strait, 73 
Langsdorff, G. H. von, 
from, 98, 147, 148 
Laqtixa, native name for Peninsula 
Point, 63 
Law and Order Code, 
197-198 
Liesnoi Island, Admiralty Island, 60, 
3 


in 


information 
adoption of, 


138 
Life after death, native beliefs on, 28 
Limestone, 66, 121 
Limpets, 92, 93 
plate, 217, 222 
shield, 217, 224, 225, 226 
Lindenburg Harbor, 173 
Lindenberg Head, near Todd cannery, 
68, 145, 147 
Lineage houses, property of sibs, 27, 60, 
LOORE136; 142-0176 , (list), 177 
(list), 179 (key to), 185, 187 
L’1nedi, former name of Ganaxadi, 132, 
135, 136 
Liquor, iene regarding importation of, 
1 


245 


Lisiansky, Urey, information from, 35, 
97, 98, 146, 147, 148 

Lisiansky Bay, Baranof Island, 72, 79 

Little Jack, chief of Goon-hit, 177, 182, 
188, 189 

Littorina sitkana, 92 

Lituya Bay, 205 

Litxidg, native name for Kenasnow 
Rocks, 48 

“Lively Herring House,” of the Kik- 
sadi, 148, 

L’medi, see ’Anxakhitan, 27 

“Logjam House,” built at Neltushkin, 
55, 179 (map), 185, 193 

“Logjam Village,’ founded by the Deci- 
tan, 39 

Lone Rock, vicinity of Angoon, 37 (map) 

“Lonigon Jake,” possibly Kitchnath, 
161, 166 

Loon Point, Admiralty Island, 60 

Loons (Gavia immer), 93 

Lumbering industry, effect on native 
culture, 7 

Lutra canadensis pacifica, 93 

Lynn Canal, Alaska, 23, 24 (map), 31, 
138, 139 


Macoma inquinata, 91 
‘“Magpie Point,’”’ pictographs at, 73, 74 
(fig.), 75 5 
superstition regarding, 49 
vicinity of Angoon, 37 (map), 49, 71 
Malin, Edward, ix, 10, 189, 190 
(sketch by) 
Mammals, sea, 93 
Mansfield Peninsula, Admiralty Island, 


24 (map), 35 
Marble, from ‘‘White Rock Point,’ 
51 


native uses of, 51-52, 106, 107, 108, 


121 

Marble Bluff, 35 

Marble or limestone, bedrock of, 66 

Marmot, 98, 94, 210, 216, 217, 221, 222, 
228 

Marten Fort, Hood Bay, 33, 53, 70, 203 

“Marten’s Small Ladder,’’ 36, 151 

Martes americana actuosa, 93 

Martha Fisher, English Bark, 175 

Martin (Martes americana actuosa), 93 

Mats, 32 

Maul head, 33, 47, 101, 231 

Mauls, 101 

stone, 50, 101 

McClellan, Dr. Catherine, x, 11, 12, 76 

Meade, Lt. Comdr., Kake forts de- 
stroyed by, 98, 161 

Medicine man, see Shaman. 

Merriman, Capt. C. E., 161, 162, 163, 
164, 166, 167, 168, 182, 201 

report of, 164-167 

Mice, 91 

Microtus admiraltiae, 93 

Middens, 39, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 50, 53, 
54, 55, 56, 57, 63, 82, 84, 96, 
101, 142, 203 


246 


Middens—Continued 
Daxatkanada Island, 82, 83 (map), 
84, 85 (map), 87 (diagram), 88 
(diagram), 90, 101, 102, 1038, 104, 
106, 109, 110, 111, 117, 120, 126, 
9 


127 
shell, 32, 33, 34, 62, 82, 84, 89 
“Middle of the Village House,” original 
house built in Neltushkin, 55, 179 
(map), 185, 189, 193 
Migration, stories of, 204 
Mining industry, effect on native cul- 
ture, 7 
Mink (Mustela vison nesolestes), 93, 114 
Missionary activities, effect on native 
culture, 7, 22, 186, 192 
Mitchell Bay, expedition to, 10 
vicinity of Angoon, 38, 39, 40, 41-43 
70, 81, 151 
Moccasins, harbor sealskin, 94 
Mole Harbor, Admiralty Island, 24 
(map), 32, 52, 110 
Moon, myth about, 130 
Mooney, information from, 205 
Morris, William Gouverneur, collector 
of customs, 163 
information from, 160, 163-164, 
165, 201 
letter of, 163-164 
Morris Reef, Point Hays, 64 
Mortar, stone, 50, 51 
wooden, 101 
Moss, 29, 88 
Motorboats, owned by natives, 46 
transportation by, 10, 11, 53, 60 
Mount Edgecumbe, on Kruzof Island, 
68, 144 
Mt. Edgecumbe High School, 194 
Mouse, Admiralty meadow (Microtus 
admiraltiae), 93 
Alaska white-footed (Peromyscus 
maniculatus hyleus), 93 
Muir, John, information from, 154, 174 
Murder Cove, cannery in, 59, 161 
Mussel shells, 62, 66, 110, 145 
found in pit, 33, 58, 96 
knives of, 109, 145 
Mussels, blue (Mytilus edulis), 91, 110, 
211, 218, 214, 220, 221, 222, 223, 
225, 226 
poisonous at times, 29, 91 
Mustela arminea celendra, 93 
arminea inites, 93 
arminea salea, 93 
arminea seculsa, 93 
vison nesolestes, 93 
Mya truncata, 91 
“Myth time,” 
time, 21 
Myths, Great Flood, 19, 21, 22, 52, 55, 
57, 61, 129, 180-131, 138, 139 
Raven cycle, 16, 19, 21, 22 
relation to geography, 42 
relation to native history, 17-18, 
20, 22, 144, 145 


Tlingit traditional 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 


(Bull. 172 


Myths—Continued 
relation to potlatches, 17, 19 
relation to sibs, 19 

Mytilus californiensis, 110 
edulis, 91 


Nahltushkan, former Angoon town, 25 
Nakwasina Passage, near Sitka, 116, 
149 


Nandr-qatana-laqlixa-ghyAk, bay 
north of Peninsula Point, 63 
Nass River, 139 
National Fish and Salting Company, 197 
Native art, decline of, 16 
Native names, list of, 25 
Natural arch, Basket Bay, 62 (map), 63 
Needles, 15, 116, 118 
steel, 118 
Netduegan, native name for “‘ Neltush- 
kin”’ village, 55 
Nelson, John, chief of Keet-hit, 178, 191 
Nelson Bay, Baranof Island, 24 (map), 


69, 70 
Neltushkin, village on Whitewater Bay, 
55, 56 (map), 167 
Neoski Strait (Whilistone Narrows), 165 
Nests, flood shelters, 131 
hunting blinds, 114 
Nets, fish, 116 
Nettles, 66 
New England Fish Company, cannery 
and store operated by, 64 
native employees of, 65 
New Metlakatla, Alaska, 194 
Nootka, Alaska, 173 
Nootka Indians, 6 
Norfolk Sound, 98 
North Arm, Hood Bay, 51 
North Island, see Head Island. 
Northern Tlingit culture, 7 
Northern Tlingit Indians, 6 
Northern Tlingit territory, 6 
Northward, ‘‘up river,” 21 
Northwest Coast art, conventionalized, 
16, 73, 79, 122, 127, 206 
Northwest Coast culture, 5, 6, 7, 206 
Northwest Coast Indians, 5 
Northwest Trading Company, settle- 
ment established by, 49, 162, 163, 
164, 166, 167, 201 
vessel of, 46, 164 
Ni hit, fort house, 177, 186, 187 


Objects of foreign provenience, 126-127 
Odocoileus sitkensis, 93 
Office of Naval Research, ix 
Oncorynchus sp., 92 
Ornaments, 119-122 
ear, tooth pendants worn as, 119 
nose, 119, 122 
sea lion teeth worn as, 120, 213 
sea otter teeth, 119, 120, 212, 215, 
217, 230 
worn by men, 119 
worn by women, 119, 120 


INDEX 


Orr, Dr. Robert T., birds identified by, 
92 


247 


“People of the Burned Down House,” 
Angoon sib, 27, 142 


Osprey, H.M.S., present in Sitka harbor, | “People of the End of the (Beaver) 
161, 162 


? 
Otters, land, 28, 94, 114, 211, 224 
Pacific land (Lutra canadensis pa- 
cifica), 93 
sea, (Enhydra lutris lutris), 93, 111 
“Over All House,” 142, 187 


Pacific Coast Steamship Company, 175 
Packed Solid House, Decitan sib, 179 
(map), 183 
Paint, 104 
black, 104 
blue, 104 
making of, 127 
mineral, 30 
red, 56, 58, 104, 105, 120 
Paintings, 48-49, 56 (map), 58 
animal faces, 48 
rock, 35, 73, 79, 128 
Whitewater Bay, 56 (map), 58 
See also Pictographs. 
Paint stones, red baked, 103, 104, 210, 
212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 
221, 223, 224, 225, 226, 229 
Palisades, 95, 96, 97, 98, 186 
Parker Point, 35 
Passage Island, Davis Creek, 43 
Patterson Bay, Baranof Island, 23, 24 


(map), 69 
Paul, Jim, chief of Trail End House, 183, 
184 


Paul, Jimmie, chief of Ahn-chuka-hit, 
177, 183 

Paul, John, chief of Took-ka-hit, 177, 
183 


Paul, William, songs translated by, 138 
“Pavement,” shale fragment, found in 


pit, 3 
Pavlof Harbor, Freshwater Bay, 143 
ee reeony potlatch ceremony, 
1, 159 
Peace Dances, 149, 151, 155, 180, 191 
Peace treaty, 155 
Pebble, slate, found under floor, 50 
Peck, Rev. and Mrs. Cyrus, help from, 
11, 65, 193 
Peg, with slit end, 90 
wooden, 217, 218, 227 
Pencils, yellow shale, 212, 215 
Pendants, 119, 120-121 
barnacle, 120 
bone, 224 
ivory, 120, 126, 226 
sea lion tooth, 119, 120 
sea otter tooth, 120 
shale, 123, 214 
shell, 92, 220 
stone, 15, 121 
tooth, 119, 120, 215, 217, 230 
Peninsula Point, west of Angoon, 63 
“People of the built-up shelter,’’ people 
of Pybus Bay, 60 


Trail House,’ Angoon sib, 27 
“‘People of the House in the Middle of 
the ; Town,” native name for 
’Anxakhitan, 135, 136 
“People of the Middle of the Village 
House,” Angoon sib, 27 
“People of the Over-all House,” An- 
goon sib, 27 
Peril Strait, 64, 67-68, 69, 70, 98, 144, 
145, 147, 148, 165, 174, 203 
site at, 11, 24 (map), 49, 67 
Periwinkles, Sitka (Littorina sitkana), 
? 
Peromyscus maniculatus hyleus, 93 
Pestles or hand hammers, 33, 50, 101, 
210, 220, 231 
stone, 101 
Petrof, Ivan, information from, 174 
Petroglyphs, 12, 16, 22, 31, 52, 55, 57, 
65 (map), 66, 68, 76 (figs.) 
Petroglyphs and pictographs, 70-80 
Phoca richardii richardii, 93 
Phocaena vomerina, 93 
Picea sitchensis, 90 
Pictographs, 12, 16, 22, 31, 48, 58 
red, 71, 72, 73, 75, 105 
Pillsbury Point, excavations at, 11, 33, 
98 


’ 
story of, 150 
vicinity of Angoon, 37 (map), 38, 
39, 41, 70, 79, 81, 98, 94, 95 
(map), 97, 99, 100, 101, 102, 
104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 110, 111, 
113, 114, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 
126, 143, 148, 230-231 (list) 
Pillsbury Point and Daxatkanada Is- 
land, 39-40 
Pin, bone, 113, 117, 118, 212, 213, 218, 
225, 226, 227, 228, 230 
double-pointed, 117, 212, 214, 215, 
216, 217, 218, 219, 221, 223, 229 
nose, 119, 122, 214 
Pine, lodgepole (Pinus contorta), 90 
Pinta, revenue steamer, 171 
Pinus contorta, 90 
Pit, shallow, 86 
square, 45 
“Pit Cache House,” “End of 
Village House.” 
Pitfalls, made by children, 114 
Pits or cellers, 55 
Plaques, incised stone, 127, 128 
Platforms, protective, 98, 114 
Pododesmus macroschisma, 91 
Point Craven, Freshwater Bay, 64 
Point Gardner, Admiralty Island, 59, 
102, 136 
Point Hanus, 147 
Point Hays, Freshwater Bay, 63-64, 70, 
148, 149 
Point Marsden, Admiralty Island, 23, 24 
(map), 35, 70 


see 


IAS BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 172 


Point Moses, Hanus Bay, 68, 147 
Point Parker, Killisnoo Island, 172, 173 
Point Samuel, Killisnoo Island, 37 
(map), 173 
Points, barbed, 114-115 
bird bone, 117, 212, 214, 215, 216, 
219, 220, 221, 227, 230 
miscellaneous, 117 
Poison Cove, 24 (map), 67 
“Poison Water’’ village, 35 
Poles, 89 
Polygyra (Vespericola) columbiana, 92 
Pond Island, Kelp Bay, 69 
Porcupines, 94, 97 
quills, use of, 119 
Porpoises, 29, 94, 212, 213, 215, 216, 217, 
218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 224, 225 
war harbor (Phocaena vomerina), 


Puget Sound Salish, 205 
Pumice, lump of, 214 
uses of, 105, 123 
Purse seiners, 198 
Pybus Bay, Admiralty Island, 24 
(map), 60, 98 


Q’ack-t‘b-wahaytyA, native name for 
“Where the rock fell on some- 
one’s head’’, 68 


, 
Q’acayI xakv, native name for ‘Head 
Island,” 57 
Qadasaxayrk, native name for Sand 
Island, 4 
Q‘adjaq”te (Man Killer), title of chief 
of Middle of Village House, 185 
Q!a’kitan, see Anq!a’kitan, 177 
Qakw‘edi, Basket People, 27, 61 


Porter, Robert R., information from, | Qatckahin, former campsite, 59 


162, 175 : Qrxatud4n, native name for “Logjam 
Port Frederick, Chichagof Island, 24 Village,’”’ 39, 133 
(map), 61 Quartz, chips, 111, 211 


P); 
Portland, trade with, 175 
Port Simpson, Alaska, 204 
Postholes, 85 (fig), 86, 88 (diagram), 89, 
90, 96, 97, 113 
Posts, carved, 72 
wooden, 126, 217, 218 
Potato gardens, abandoned, 32, 50 
‘Potato mashers,’’ mauls, 101 
Potato Point, near Angoon, 37 (map), 51 
Potatoes, 174, 175 
storehouses for, 51 
trade in, 50 
Potlatches, 38, 40, 130, 134, 135, 136, 
142, 181, 182, 183, 186, 188, 189, 
191, 192, 200 
funeral, gifts given at, 51, 136, 192 
sacrifices at, 48 
songs for, 17 
Potters clay, 103 
Pottery, 103, 127 
lost art, 103 
Pre-Russian times, 60 
village, site of, 68 
Presbyterian Church, Angoon, 193, 194 
Presbyterian Minister, also chief of 
Raven House, 193 
at Kake, 193 
Presbyterian Mission school, at Sitka, 
128, 185 
Presbyterian Theological Seminary 
Choir, visit of, 194 
Pribilof Islanders, 194 
Prince of Wales Island, 132, 137, 143, 


core, cracked, 221 

for fire-striking sets, 59, 102 

hammerstones of, 102 
Queen Charlotte’s Islands, 172 
Quiver, skin, 114 


Qutexahin, name for Tyee, 59 


Radios, owned by natives, 196 

Rakes, fish, 29, 116 

Raven, equated with Christian Creator, 
22 


supernatural being, 72, 129, 131 
Raven Bones house, 177, 179 (map), 
181-182, 184, 189 
Raven cycle myths, 16, 19, 21, 22, 41- 
42, 49, 69, 72, 129 
Raven Decitan, Angoon sib, 19, 27, 
176 (list), 176, 180 
“Raven House,” first house built at 
Angoon, 180, 192, 193 
of Ganaxadi, 47, 178, 179 (map), 
180-181, 183, 188 
Raven Kiksadi sib, 72, 146 
Raven Moiety, 40, 177 (list) 
Ravens, carved, decorations of Raven 
House, 180, 182, 183 
“Raven’s Cooking Pot,” native name 
for point near Killisnoo Island, 
49 


“‘Raven’s Drum,” village on Chaik 

Bay, 54 (map) 

*“Raven’s Halibut,” name of rock in 
Steamer Passage, 40 


ee Raven sib, 47, 69, 70, 131, 132, 135, 204 
Prince William Sound, 18, 22, 79, 82,|Raven’s Mooring,” island in Mitchell 
127, 128 Bay, 41 


Prisoners, taken by Government in| Raven’s Slave,” native name for a rock, 
reprisal for murders, 161 
white, taken by Indians, 163 
Protothaca staminea, 91 
Public Health Nurse, Angoon, 194 
Public schools, 175, 194 


Puget Sound ports, trade with, 175 


““Raven’s theft of water,” petrograph 
of, 78 

‘““Raven’s Tidal Current,”’ native name 
for Salt Lake Fall, 43 

““Raven’s Web, or Net,’”’ Gut Bay, 69 


INDEX 


Records of fieldwork kept, 12-13 

Red Bluff Bay, Baranof Island, 24 
(map), 69, 70, 100 

Red cedar bark, tinder of, 102 

Reed, Dr. John, information from, 22 

Relationship between Tlingit archeology 
and ethnology, 1-23 

Reservations, native feelings toward, 
198 


Riddell, Francis A., x, 11, 91, 93 
animals identified by, 93, 94, 97 
Roberts, Lester, Grand Secretary of 
Native organization, 10 
Robert’s Rules of Order, used by sibs, 


193 
Robes, beaded, 16 
Rock, igneous, use of, 106 
Rock carvings, 79, 128 
Roekfish or ‘‘rock cod’ (Sebastodes sp.), 


92 
Rock oyster shells, beliefs regarding, 16 
Rocks, fire-cracked, finding of, 33, 45, 
53, 54, 56, 67, 82, 89, 96, 102 
native names for, 41 
piles of, 90 
Rock shelter, 43, 53, 90 
Rods, bone, 115, 220 
wooden, 47 
Rogers, Dr. Frank, shells identified by, 
92 


Root cellers, remains of, 45, 54 (map) 

Rope, myths about, 131 

Rose Rock, vicinity of Angoon, 
(map), 38 

Rubbing stone, 126, 213 

Rubbing tools, 106-108, 123, 127, 210, 
212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 
219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 
226, 227, 228, 229, 230 

Russian-American Company, 128, 202 

Russian colonization, effect on native 
cultures, 7 

Russian post at Sitka, destruction of, 
146 

Russian relations with natives, 202 

Russian schools, 175, 176 

Russian times, incident during, 68 

Russians, hunting methods introduced 


37 


y; 
native forts taken by, 97 


Saddle, Daxatkanada Island, 80 (map), 
82, 86, 87-89, 87 (diagram), 88 
(diagram) 

Saginaw, U.S. ship, 161 

Saginaw Bay, Kuiu Island, 24 (map), 
52, 59, 137, 161 

Saginaw Jake, see Kitchnath. 

Sailing ship, three-masted, pictographs 


of, 48 
Salisbury Sound, Peril Strait, 67 
Salmo sp., 92 
Salmon, dog, 140, 185 
dried, 58, 92 
fishing for, 116 
hunting of, 62, 116 


249 


Salmon—Continued 


(Oncorynchus sp.), 92, 94, 97 
sockeye, 30, 43, 139 
staple food, 28 
supposed connection with petro- 
glyphs, 72 
spearing of, 111 
_ trap, 55, 57, 115, 116 
Salmonberries, 29, 66 
Salmon Boy, supernatural being, 72, 116 
Salmon Cannery at Hood Bay, pur- 
chased by community, 198 
Salt Lake, 43 
Salvation Army, natives members of, 
193, 194 
Salvation Army Hall, Angoon, 193 
Killisnoo Island, 193 
Sambucus callicarpa, 91 
racemosa callicarpa, 91 
San Francisco, trade with, 175 
‘“‘Sand Island,” native name for Killis- 
noo Harbor, 49, 50 
Sandstone, dishes of, 103 
fine-grained, 106, 107 
green, 100 
red, 103 
yellow, 103, 104, 121 
Sanya, 144 
Saw, gritty marble, 104, 210, 214 
sandstone, 104, 230, 231 
stone, 45, 105 
Sawmill, purchase of, 199 
Warm Springs Bay, 196 
Saxicava pholadus, 92 
Saxidomus giganteus, 91 
Scalps, taking of, 156 
Schist, 100, 102 
micaceous, 108, 122, 123, 125 
Schizotheraeus nuttalt, 91 
School building, Angoon, 47 
Sciurus hudsonicus picatus, 93 
Serapers, boulder chip, 221 
clamshell, 211 
greenstone, 109, 123 
marble, 211, 212, 216, 227, 229 
slate, paddleshaped, 33, 109 
ulolike, 108 
unfinished, 108, 110 
Scratching stone, 119, 121, 123 
Sculpin, 92 
Sea, source of life, 28 
Sea cucumbers, taboos about, 147 
Sealing hole, Basket Bay, 62 (map) 
Sea lions, 29, 93, 94, 97, 111, 210, 213, 
214, 218, 220, 221 
eaten by natives, 111 
legends of, 138 
teeth worn as ornaments, 120, 213 
Sea oil, lamp fuel, 103, 104 
“Seal People,” 138 
Seals, 97, 112, 145, 210, 211, 212, 213, 
214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 
221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 
228 


250 


Seals—Continued 
bone used for divining, 94 
fur, 29, 111 
harbor, 29, 93, 94, 111 
hunting methods, 62, 111 
Pacific harbor (Phoca 
richardit), 93 
stomachs, inflated, use of, 62, 111, 116 
Sealskin disguises, use of, 111 
Sea Monster, supernatural being, 72 
Sea otters, 29, 67, 93, 94, 97, 111, 210, 
211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 
218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 
225, 226, 227, 228, 229 
design, carved, 47 
hunting of, 112, 144 
teeth, worn as ornaments, 119, 120, 
212, 215, 217, 230 
skins, trade in, 99, 173 
value of, 93, 94 
urchins (Strongylocentrotus 
puratus), 92 
shells, found in pit, 33, 92 
spines, 96, 97, 224 
Seaweed, edible, 29 
Sebastodes sp., 92 
Secretary of the Interior, 197 
Security Bay, Kuiu Island, 24 (map), 59 
Security Harbor, Admiralty Island, 59 
Seeds, berry, 90-91 
Serpentine, 100 
Shale, brown, 125 
dish of, 103 
knives, 109, 110 
layers, in bedrock, 66 
pendant, tan, 121 
sandy, 121 
sawed, 230 
soft, 106, 107 
yellow, used in paint, 104 
Shale fragment “pavement,” found in 


richardit 


Sea pur- 


pit, 33 
Shale pebbles, burned for paint, 104 
flat, 125 
pencillike, 106 
Shaman, accidental death of, 163, 165, 


167, 201 
Shaman, Story of the Hood Bay, 
140-141, 191 


Shamans, 22, 119, 123 
ghost, beliefs regarding, 36 
graves of, 30, 36, 49, 63 
ornaments worn by, 119 
power of, 52, 58, 140-141 
Sha-nak-hit, Mountain House, 178 
Sharks, fishing for, 116 
Shed, 54 (map) 
Sheldon Jackson School, Presbyterian 
Mission School, 185, 194 
Shelf, Daxatkanada Island, 80 (map), 
82, 83 (map), 85 (map)—86 
Shellfish, 29, 91, 97 
Shells, 45, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 62, 66, 67, 
82, 84, 88, 90, 96, 220 
used as knives, 16 
Shelters, flimsy, 86 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 


(Bull. 172 


Ship, pictograph of, 73, 74 (fig.) 
Shteen-hit, named for a slave, 177 
Shuwika, John, former chief of Wuckitan 
“Fort House” at Angoon, 73, 186 
Sib ancestors, myths about, 21 
Sib crests, 72 
Sib heirlooms, few survive, 16 
Sib houses, 47, 48 
Sib rights, illustrations of, 73 
Sibs, 15, 17, 19 
effect on native histories, 17-18, 20, 
21, 148, 203 
matrilineal, 27 
rival, sports of, 48 
territorial rights, 20, 26, 72 
territories, 25, 69-70 
traditions, 129, 130 
Sitka, Alaska, 24 (map), 26, 35, 58, 64, 
68, 97, 98, 105, 111, 116, 129, 131, 
138, 144, 146, 148, 153, 157, 158, 
162, 164, 165, 167, 170, 171, 175, 
177, 183, 187, 193, 202, 203, 206 
destruction of Russian post at, 146 
white residents of, 160, 161 
Sitka Kagwantan, attack on Angoon 
Wockitan by, 157 
defeat of, at Wrangell, 155, 156 
Sitka Krksadi, fights between Decitan 
and Anxakhitan, 149-150, 202 
Sitka Sound, 24 (map), 35, 174 
Sitka bee ix, 25, 28, 67, 68, 104, 146, 
14 


Sitkoh Bay, in Peril Strait, 11, 24 
(map), 33, 64-67, 70, 71, 72, 73, 
76 (map), 131, 184, 148, 149, 203 
petroglyphs at, 75, 76 (figs.)—79 
“Sitkoh Bay Chief,” 183 
Sitkoh Lake, drained by Sitkoh River, 
65 (map) 
Sitkoh River, sockeye salmon stream, 65 
(map) 
Siwashes, 164 
Skeena River, 204, 205 
Skiff, dangerous in swift currents, 10 
Skull, human, 67, 86 
Slabs, sandstone, 33 
slate or shale, 33 
Slate, blades of, 109-110 
green, 106 
Slavery, practice of, 81 
Slaves, 151 
blood, used for paint, 104 
sacrifice of, 48, 184, 182 
traffic in, 7 
Smallpox epidemic, 50 
‘Small Spirit’s House,’’ Shaman’s grave, 


49 

Smith, Allyn G., shells identified by, 91 

Smith, Marian W., x, 

Smokehouses, wooden, 15, 36, 37, 39, 
44, 45, 54 (map), 57, 58, 61 

Snails, land, 92, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 
220, 223, 224, 225 

Snares, 114 

Soapstone, light green, 121 

Sobolof, Walter, information from, 154 


INDEX 


South Arm, Hood Bay, 51, 52 
South Bay, Peninsula Point, 63 
South Point, Mitchell Bay, 43 
Southern Tlingit Indians, 6 
Southward, ‘down river,” 21 
Spearhead, bone, 227 
Spears, 102, 114, 115, 136, 156 
fish, 111, 116 
salmon, 112, 116 
Spruce, 29, 54, 64, 66, 112, 116 
Sitka (Picea sitchensis), 90 
‘“‘Spruce-children House,” 180 
Spuhn, Carl, manager of trading com- 
pany, 162, 169, 171 
Squirrel, Alaska red (Sciurus hudsonicus 
picatus), 93 
Starfish, beliefs regarding, 16 
Stars, designs, 79 
myths about, 130 
State Indian Museum, Sacramento, 187, 
189 
Steamer Passage, vicinity of Angoon, 37 
(map), 38, 39, 40-41, 69, 79, 95 
_ (map) 
Steatite, 121 
Steel, scarce, 90 
“Steel House,”’ of the Decitan, 55, 175, 
176, 179 (map), 181, 183, 185 
Stephens Passage, Alaska, 23, 24 (map) 
Stewart, Charles, interpreter, 153 
Stikine Indians, 147, 148, 153, 154, 160, 
161 
Stikine River, 42, 43, 132, 137, 138, 139 
Stikine sibs, 72, 152, 153 
Still for rum making at Fort Wrangell, 
destruction of, cause of war, 152 
Stillwater Anchorage, vicinity of An- 
goon, 37 (map), 38, 39, 44, 95 
(map), 132, 133, 169 
Stone, carved, 34 
cooking, 102 
rubbing, 126 
worked, 53 
Stone Island, Kanalku Bay, 43, 71 
“Stone nests,’’ myths regarding, 22 
Stories, native, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 
139, 140-141, 145, 149, 150, 151, 
152, 155-156, 157-158 
Strawberry Point, Glacier Bay, 143, 150 
Strike-a-light, quartz, 96 
“Strong or Great Tidal Rapids,’”’ native 
name for Steamer Passage, 40 
Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, 92 
Subsoil, 96 
colors of, 84, 85 (cross section), 
88 (fig.) 
‘‘Suck-a-chew,”’ native name for pot- 
tery, 103 
Sukkwan, Prince of Wales Island, 144 
Sullivan Point, vicinity of Angoon, 37 
(map), 39, 44, 45-46, 70, 105, 
110, 118, 121, 132, 133, 165, 169, 
231 


Sumato, Mr., Japanese married to a 
native woman, 49 


251 


Sumner Strait, 136 
Sun, myths about, 130 
petroglyphs of, 72, 74 (fig.), 75, 
76 (fig.), 78 
Supernatural beings, beliefs regarding, 


petroglyphs of, 72 
Surprise Harbor, Admiralty Island, can- 
nery at, 59 
James G., 
173-174 
a ae haa (Cygnus columbianus), 


Swan, information from, 


Swanton, John R., information from, 
25, 42, 61, 77, 79, 111, 129, 130, 
13159135; 136 fA3(H 138, 142: 
143, 144, 147, 148, 150, 156, 
158, 176; Uva) VSOWAS3; 185, 
186, 204 


Table Island, Alaska, 37 (map), 51 

Table Mountain, south of Whitewater 
Bay,,olelol 

Tablets, incised, 108, 119, 122-123, 124 
(figs.), 125, 128, 210, 211, 221, 
227, 231 

Taboos, 123, 147 

Takawux, native name for Herring 
Bay, 59 

Taku Inlet, Alaska, 23, 24 (map), 134, 
136, 139, 141, 142 

Taku River, 106 

Taku tribes, 25, 32, 52, 154 

Takvanicu, ‘‘Winter Village,’’ south- 
eastern part of Sullivan Point, 45 

Talc, bright blue, 122, 218 

Taquestina sib, 144 

Taylor, Ensign H., 165 

Tay-quay-tee, Bear Clan, 178 


Téak, native name for fort on Chaik 
Bay, 53, 54 (map) 

Téak nuwu, native name for fort on 
Graveyard point, 48 


Tcauk‘a nu, native name for “Halibut 
Place Fort,” 64 


Tcas hini, native name for stream near 
Basket Bay, 63 

Teayik, native name for camp on Chaik 
Bay, 55 

Teacher’s House, Angoon, 47 

Tekoedi, Angoon sib, 25 

Tena (Ingalik) Athabaskans, 15 


? 
Tenage, native name for ‘‘Bay on the 


other side,’”’ 61 

Tenakee, cannery at, 71 

settlement at, 24 (map), 61, 72, 188 
Tenakee Inlet, 24 (map), 35, 60-61, 70, 
131, 148, 203 
island near Prince of Wales 
Island, 143 
Te’qoedt, People of Teq®, 127 


Teq?, 


252 


Teqv*edi, Eagle (or Wolf) moiety, 27, 
28, 41, 42, 43, 44, 49, 50, 55, 67, 
68, 77, 133, 146, 176, 177 (list), 
179 (map), 181, 182, 184, 187, 
193, 201, 203, 204 
origin of, 143-146 
sib, rights of, 70 
totemic crests, 68 
Teqv*edi Houses, 187-189 
Teqvedi Valley House, 157, 201 
Territorial laws of 1915, 192 
Territorial Legislature, 196 
Territorial Museum in Juneau, 158 
Test pits, 44, 45, 50, 53, 54 (map), 56 
(map), 62° (map), 65 (map), 66, 
81, 89-90, 9 
findin ein, ao (list), 45 (list), 67 
(list), 96 (list) 
Thais re nip 1 
lamellosa, 91 
lima, 91 
Thayer Creek, Admiralty Island, 24 
(map), 35-36, 69, 70, 172 
Thimble, brass, found in ruins, 99, 127, 
214 


Thimbleberry bushes, 66 
eel Sheilagh, animals identified 
93 


Thorne Bay 137 

Tikhmenev, Russian author, informa- 
tion from, 156 

Til hini, native name for “‘Dog Salmon 
Stream,” 55 

Timbers, cut near water, 30 

Tin cans, found in pits, 57 

Tinder, red cedar bark, 102 

Tinkler, copper, 126, 211 


Tixatz, native name for Liesnoi Island, 
60 


Tlingit Indians, ix, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 16, 19, 
25, 27, 72, 92, 93, 97, 98, ’99, 123° 
126, 127, 128) 129, 130, 133, 135, 
137, 147, 156, 168, 170, 171, 192, 

194 200, 202° 204° 205° 
characteristics of, 13-14, 16, 18, 20, 


34, 202 
conception of geography, 20-21 
culture, 5, 7, 8, 12, 18, 15-16, 
103, 203 


culture, relation to other cultures, 
14, 15, 99, 127, 203 
history, summary of, 200-206 
Se pees theories on, 205-206 
sibs, 
territory, 6, 19-20, 30, 71, 204, 206 
Tobacco, cultivated, 172 
leaf, 101 
Todd, Chichagof Island, 24 (map), 68, 
144, 147, 148, 203 
Cannery, 68, 145 
story of trouble at, 145-146 
Togyé’dt, outlet people, 177 
Tom, Peter, 188 
Tombstone, carved marble, 188,8191 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 


[Bull. 172 


Tongas Saas 132, 137, 144, 159, 


Tongas "Someed, 185 
Tongs, wooden, used in cooking, 102 
Took-ka-hit, lineage house, 177 
Tools, abrading, 105-108 

beaming, 109 

beaver tooth, 221, 223, 230 

bone, 53, 109, 118 

chipped marble, 210 

iron, 99, 100, 109, 126 

picklike, 107 

polishing, 106 

rubbing, 106-108 

ete 210 213, 214, 217, 225, 228, 

22 


unfinished, 108-109 
Tooth, human, 86, 219 

sea lion, worn as ornament, 120, 213 
Torches, used in fishing, 116 
Totem poles, 17, 187-188 
Town Council, organization of, 193 
Toyatt, Christian Stikine chief, 153, 154, 

164 


Trade goods, 127 
Trade with Indians, 173 
Traditions, belief in, 22 
legendary, 129 
modern, 129 
more historical, 129 
mythical, 129 
Trail End House, Decitan sib, 179 
(map), 183, 184, 193 
Trail Store, 197 
Transportation methods, motorboat, 10 
Traps, “‘figure-four,’”’ 114 
fish, 28, 43, 57, 69, 116 
funnel-shaped, "116 
salmon, 55, 57, 115, 116 
Traprock, green, 100 
Trash, disposal of, 34 
Trash mounds, 34 
Trash pits, 34 
Trees, date set by, 32 
’) Tritons, Oregon, 91, 218, 224 
Trollers, 198 
Trolling camp, modern, 64 
Trout, salmon (Salmo sp.), 92 
spearing of, 111 
Tsagvedi, former inhabitants of Hood 
Bay, 52, 59, 137, 138, 139, 204 
Ts4qvaA, native name for South Arm, 
Hood Bay, 52 
Tsaq¥a canuk, native name for ‘Hood 
Bay Old Woman,” 52 


TSaxvel nuku, native name for ‘‘Crow’s 
Little Fort,” 51 


Tsax¥et nuwu, native name for “Crow’s 
Fort,” 6 


Tsegeni gago, native name for Magpie 
Point, 49 
Tsimshian Indians, 6, 15, 27, 41, 48, 49, 
58, 71, 72, 77, 203, 205, 206 
songs adopted by Tlingit, 15 


INDEX 


Tinks, native name for dwarfs, 60 
Tsuga heterophylla, 90 

mertensiana, 90 
Tube, bird bone, 212, 220 

drinking?, 126 
Tuberculosis, introduced by whites, 28 
Tuck -la- way-tee, Killer Whale or 

Thrasher clan, 178 


Tukqa, native name for Inside Baby 
Pouch, 37 (map), 38 

Tugk¥a hit, Decitan chief, 48, 183 

Turnips, 174, 175 

Turn Point, near Angoon, 37 (map), 
38-39, 45, 1382, 134, 151, 165, 206 

Tuxekan, 142 

Tyee, Admiralty Island, 24 (map), 59, 
70, 182, 161, 204 


Ulo, iron, 109 
knife, or scraper, 108, 109 
slate, 110, 229 
Ulo blade, 211, 229 
Ulo handle, 90, 109, 226 
United States Coast Pilot, Alaska, 
description of Kootznahoo Inlet, 
36, 38, 40 
University of Pennsylvania Museum, 
specimens at, 33, 99 
Ursus eulophus, 93 
U. insularis, 93 
U. mirabilis, 93 
U. neglectus, 93 
U. shirasi, 93 


Valley House, Teq*edi house, 144, 179 
(map), 188, 189, 193 
Vancouver, George, information from, 
31, 35, 94, 98, 172 
Vancouver Island, 205 
Vanderbilt, J. M., manager of trading 
company, 162, 164, 168 
Vessel, stone, 86 
Vessels, crude stone, 103-104 
Viking Fund, see Wenner-Gren Founda- 
tion for Anthropological Re- 
search, ix 
‘Village close to the backside,’”’ native 
name for a village on Sullivan 
Point, 45 
Village End House, Decitan sib, 179 
(map), 183, 184, 191 
Village Point, Chaik Bay, 53, 54 (map) 
Village Police Force, 198 
Village Rock, vicinity of Angoon, 38 
Villages, destroyed in reprisal for 
murders, 161 
remains of, 98 
summer, location of, 30, 31 
winter, location of, 30 
Vitis sp., 90 


Wakashan area, 6 

Wakashan Indians, 6 

Wall, horizontally laid legs, 60 

Walters, Charley, brother of Charley 
Davis, 187 


253 


Wanda hit, ’Anxakhftan sib, 180 


Wanka gf, native name for Favorite 
Bay, 46 

War, preparations for, 155 

iN ar Irene, drawings by, 83, 85, 87, 


War club, 102 
heads, 33, 96, 102 

Warehouse, dilapidated, 45 

Warm Springs Bay, Baranof Island, 
sawmill at, 196 

War pick, 33, 100, 102 

Washinedi of Kake, warlike natives, 
53, 60 

Washing machines, electric, 196 

Water, lack of, 151 

“Water Coming Up,” native name for 
“Packed Solid House,” 183 


Watkasatn, native name for stream, 69 
Watkasatn, native name for ‘Poison 
Water,” 35 
Wax, ear, used in firemaking, 102 
Weapon point, bone, 216 
Weapons, hunting, 102, 111-115 
sea mammal hunting, 111-113 
war, 102 
Weasel, 93 
Weather, beliefs regarding, 131 
predictions of, 29 
Weaving, Tsimshian, adopted by Chilkat 
Indians, 15 
Wedges, wooden, 101 
Weeds, use of, 29 
Weirs, fish, 161, 116 
stone salmon, 69, 116 
Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthro- 
pological Research, ix 
help from, 13 
West Coast people, 150 
Whale, killer, marble figure of, 191 
killer, myth about, 61 
killer, wooden figure of, 55 
Whales, 29, 93, 169, 210, 213, 214, 218, 
220, 221 
blackfish, 93 
bones, 94, 97, 113, 118, 211, 213, 
214, 215, 216, 220, 221, 223, 224, 
225, 230 
eaten by natives, 111 
finback, 162 
killer or orca, 93, 189 
‘‘Whales Head Fort,” vicinity of Angoon, 
39, 94, 150 
Whelks, 91, 222, 225 
“Where the rock fell on someone’s 
head,” Teq*edi town, 68, 145 
MBststOne, 217, 219, 222, 225, 226, 229, 
23 


green slate, 230 

hard rock, 221, 224, 227, 230 

sandstone or shale, 30, 33, 104, 
105-106, 211, 212, 213, 214, 219, 
220, 223, 230 

smooth, use of, 105 


254 


Whidbey, Lt., 172, 173, 206 

Whilistone Narrows, 165 

Whip sling, 114 

White, Sa J. W., information from, 
16 


White men, murder of, 160-161 

“White Rock Point,’”’ marble from, 51 

White settlements, effect on native cul- 
ture, 7 

Whitestone Harbor, 142 

Whitewater Bay, Admiralty Island, 10, 
11, 24 (map), 33, 54, 55-59, 68, 
69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 104, 127, 131, 
132, 135, 136, 139, 144, 173, 174, 
176, 185, 187, 203, 231 

pigiograpps south of, 74 (fig.), 75, 

9 


Whiz Fish Products Company, 198 
Widows, rubbing stone used by, 126 
Wild celery plants, 66 
Willard, Mrs. Eugene S., letter by, 163, 
167-168, 186, 201 
Willard, Robert, chief of Wuckitan Fort 
House, 183, 186 
Wilson Cove, Admiralty Island, 24 
(map), 58-59, 70, 104, 173 
“Winter Village,” native name for Sulli- 
van Point, 45, 132, 143 
Wire recorder, loaned by Wenner-Gren 
Foundation, 13 
Witchcraft, belief in, 200 
Wolcott, Government boat, 173 
Wolves, 170, 213, 214, 217, 218, 221 
Alexander Archipelago (Canis lupus 
ligoni), 93, 94 
Wood, rotted, 57, 82, 90, 96 
Wood ash, 82, 84, 86, 89, 96 
Wood carving, see Carving. 
Woodcock, W. H., Chairman of Com- 
mittee of Safety at Wrangell, 152 
Wood painting, native, 73 
Woodworm, sib crest, 72, 76 (fig.), 78 
Woosh-kee-tarn, Eagle Clan, 178 
Wrangell, 32, 43, 58, 71, 79, 129, 131, 
134, 138, 144, 148, 150, 151, 152, 
ioe? 154, 155, 157, 159, 161, 164, 
1 
trouble at, 152-154 
Wrangell and Angoon people, peace 
between, 154, 182 
Wrangell peace party, massacre of at 
Sitka, 155-157 
Wockitan, ‘People of the Over-all 
House,’’ 27, 28, 35, 38, 39, 41, 50, 
60, 61, 63, 69, 71, 73, 95, 97, 133, 
142, 148, 150, 154, 176, 177, 179, 
181, 182, 183, 187, 204 
murder of, by Kagwantan at Sitka, 
157-158 
origin of, 141-143 
true Angoon, extinct, 27 
Wuckitan houses, 186-187 
Fort House, 183 


BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 


(Bull. 172 


Wuckitan (Eagle-Wolf) sib, righ 
70 176 g ) ghts of, 


Wushketan, Angoon sib, 25 

Wute-daka-din kit hit (Killer whales 
toueaing each other on the back), 

Wutcxkaduha, famous Hood Bay sha- 
man, 191 


’ ? 

Xaka-’an, native name for Deepwater 
Point, 60 

XanayayE, native name for Garnes 
Point, 46 


Xayfda nuwu, Native name for ‘Fort 
of the lower end of the point,’ 48 

Xicwan-’ani, native name for ‘Fishing 
Village,” 46 

Xus nuwu, native name for “Crabapple 
Fort,” 63 

Xuts! Hit, grizzly-bear house, 177, 187 

Xutsnuwuwedi, native name for ‘‘People 


of Brown Bear’s Fort,’’ 25, 26, 
200 

Xutsnuwu Wockitan, branch of Angoon 
sib, 27 

Xutsnuwu xat, native name _ for 
Admiralty Island, 25 

Xutsq”’an, Brown Bear People, 27 

Yakutat, Alaska, 34, 109, 123, 126, 127 


128, 144, 205 

Yakutat Indians, ix, 104, 112, 203 

Yakvan, Kagwantan warrior, 156 

Yaycayi nu, native name for Whale’s 
Head Fort,” 94, 150 

re le ie Raven-Bones House, 
Aig, 


Yeatle-hit, Raven House, 177 

Yekk hidi, native name for “Small 
Spirit’s House,’’ 49 

Yel, native name for God, 131 

Yel djin, native chief, 148 

Yel gawu, native name for ‘‘Raven’s 
Drum,” 54 (map) 

Yel géwu, native name for ‘‘Raven’s 
Web, or Net,’ 69 

Yét hit, Raven House, 177, 178, 180 

Yet nawu, title of head of Raven House, 
180, 192 

Yet qvali, native name for ‘“Raven’s 
Cooking Pot,’ 49 

Yen-khoon-hit, dwelling place of the 
Salmon, 178 

Yenye’di, (Hemlock people), 137, 142 

Young, Ralph, of Hoonah, 194 

Young, Rev. Hall, 152, 153, 157, 174 

Young Bay, Admiralty Island, 24 (map), 
35 


Young Tree House (Ganaxadi ?), 179 
(map), 180 


O 


Ri ne) Pi ae es, ail Ng? Ip had ere 


ye 
+ h ; ‘<! ‘al 
a ’ . ne 
ro 
’ xl 


a 


7 
Oe 


on